Things To Remember
by ShadowBat48
Summary: Victoria Crowne, a name unknown to the user herself, woke up with no recollection of her life. Once she returns back to Gotham her memories start to trickle back causing more confusion than remembrance. Not only that, but a looming threat from her missing memories is out there waiting for the right time to strike. Will she remember again? Who can she trust? What will change?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Hey Guys! This is one of my first stories! Hope you enjoy! Any questions ask away and I shall answer ASAP.

FYI: THIS IS NOT A CROSS-OVER! Just a purely ingenious idea that I came up with that includes ideas and terms from that TV series.

Disclaimer: I own no DC comic materials or any of the Lab Rats references included in this story.

Now that that's done with, enjoy!...Or not, either/or.

Chapter: 1

Tori couldn't remember the time before she woke up in an abandoned building somewhere in Gotham. Everything ached, her head hurt, her eyes hurt, her throat hurt. Everything was loud and bright, nothing made sense. Where was she, where did she come from…who was she? She didn't remember anything other than her first name, Victoria…but she preferred Tori. Tori struggled to her feet. Stumbling she looked around where she woke up, looking for water…something to drink. There was a water jug on a table a few feet away, Tori limped over and grabbed it. Tipping back her head she chugged the whole thing. Wiping her mouth she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. A broken mirror revealed a pale, dark blue eyed, dark chocolate brown haired girl. Looking at herself she tried to judge her age…she couldn't tell…that was scary. The sound of footsteps made her freeze, as silently as she could she dashed behind a crumbling pillar, but her shoe made a scuffing sound,  
"NYPD! Come out with your hands above your head now!" Tori blinked, shocked. New York City? She had just been in Gotham…what's going on? Cautiously she stepped out from behind the pillar, facing New York's finest with her arms over her head, "A girl? What the hell's going on?" one of them said, "We were told a drug trade was going on down here,"  
"I don't know…but we need to take her to the station." They stowed their guns and grabbed her arms, not too gently and guided her to the car. She sat in silence as they drove her to the station. They then asked her tons of questions,  
"Who are you?"  
"How old are you?"  
"Why are you in that abandoned building?"  
"Where do you live?"  
"Who are your parents?" She didn't have the answers they wanted. Finally the chief halted all questions,  
"What do you do remember?" he asked her,  
"I—I need to be in Gotham?" Tori stated, she didn't know how, but she needed to be there, answers are there,  
"You don't sound so sure," he replied, frowning,  
"I'm Tori….I don't know my last name…I don't know who I am or how I got here," she said,  
"You said that already," one cop exasperated,  
"Someone get the commissioner of Gotham on the phone, tell him what's going on, fax a picture of her to the precinct and get a doctor here. They'll tell us what's wrong with her head," Tori got the feeling she hated doctors…she wasn't looking forward to the visit from one, but she needed answers.

"Amnesia," the doctor said, "That's the logical explanation," it didn't take long for the doctor to figure it out,  
"How can I remember things?" Tori asked,  
"Go home, surround yourself with family, photos, memories,"  
"I don't know who my parents are!" Tori cried, started to panic…what if she never remembered anything again,  
"Calm down, panicking won't help you," the doctor said, "Focus on the facts. We are here to help you, you will get your memories back if you remain calm and let us find your family,"  
"Already done. Commissioner Gordon did an ID on the photo we sent them. Turns out you're supposed to be dead," the chief said, slamming a file down on the desk in front of Tori. She experienced tunnel vision for a second, it didn't compute. She wasn't a ghost, she was walking…talking…breathing,  
"Deep breaths sweetie," the doctor said, while glaring at the chief, "You don't just toss that at a teenager with amnesia!"  
"Well I'm trying to discover the truth. Hit and run, fifteen year old with several broken bones, internal bleeding, ruptured spleen, and brain contusions. She was in a coma for a week before she died," the room was spinning, it was getting hard to breathe, she couldn't have died…she would remember that right? Suddenly an arc of pain shot through her head, like she was getting hit in the head with a brick. She saw bright lights and a screeching sound before she was forced back into the reality of the police office,  
"I remember…t-the car," she said,  
"Check her over. I want to see scars, any evidence that she could be this girl in the file," Chief said, "She's supposed to be dead, I'd never believe this zombie crap, but she's a Gothamite. Crazy's their turf," The doctor nodded and pulled her to an X-Ray room, used for dead bodies…how appropriate. When the results came out,  
"There is evidence of old broken bones, but they're healed. No evidence of brain contusions or internal bleeding…it's like they never existed," the doctor said, "She also appears to be sixteen, her appropriate age, yet she supposedly died a year ago when she was fifteen…judging by the information Gordon sent us," she added, astonished,  
"More questions and mysteries already, I'm going to be bald by the time I'm forty," the chief muttered. Then his cell phone rang, he answered and growled an okay before hanging up,  
"Gordan say's he has your parents at his station, you're going home," Tori wasn't so sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING!

Chapter: 2

In the four hours since she woke up in the warehouse, Tori didn't think what she remembered of her life, which was nada, would get even more confusing…but she was wrong. She thought once she returned to Gotham she'd remember something…some familiarity once she saw the place. All she saw was doom and gloom, it was night afterall…no glimmer of familiarity…just confusion. Everything was a blank…like her life had been erased. Tori was struggling to remain calm as the officers from NYC guided her through the doors of the Gotham Precinct,

"I can walk on my own," she snarled, before shaking off the officers hands and walking in on her own. She was met with reporters and paparazzi. She stared at them stunned as they surged forward wanting answers and statements. Was I really this important? Tori thought to herself,

"Hey! I said no reporters in this Precinct! I will arrest you if you harass this poor girl before she deems herself ready, now get out!" A man with greying red hair and glasses said, pushing past the sea of cameras and microphones, "I said get out!" everyone grumbled and pushed past Tori to the door, snapping a few photos as they walked out into the city. The man let out a sigh,

"I'm sorry about that Mss. Crowne. The vultures get into a frenzy when one of Gotham's richest kids come back from the dead. Commissioner Gordan," he introduced himself. She robotically shook his hand. One of Gotham's richest kids? She felt like a deer caught in headlights…once upon a time literally, she didn't know what to do…she didn't even know what to feel,

"Kid's had a rough night. Woke up in New York no idea how she got there or who she is," one of the officers that brought her over said, "I wonder if your masked vigilante has an answer for this one,"

"He'll get to the bottom of this, or I will if he won't," Gordan said,

"Masked vigilante?" Tori asked, confused. The cops chuckled,

"Some freak who dresses up like a Bat goes around bringing in the psychos of Gotham to Arkham Asylum. You picked a hell of a city to come back to kid. See you later…maybe," the cop said as they started to leave,

"Don't listen to them, they're just trying to scare you," an African American woman said, coming over and putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I'm Detective Montoya,"

"Tori," she replied, "Is there really a guy that dresses up like a Bat?"

"Yes…let's not focus on that. Let's focus on you,"

"I don't know anything. I don't remember anything,"

"I know, and that's okay. Your parents have been told that you have little to no memory of your past and present,"

"How old am I?" Tori asked, she wasn't sure, she wanted to know. They said she looked sixteen,

"You're sixteen," Montoya said, "You were hit when you were fifteen…somehow you've aged to your proper age,"

"Then…I couldn't have died…" Tori said with wonder,

"It's all a mystery, we're trying to figure out what happened to you," Gordon said, "We will find out what happened, but you need to rest and be with your family and gain your memories. That will be the most help in this investigation," Tori nodded,

"Are you ready to see them?" Montoya asked,

"I don't even remember them," Tori whispered,

"That's okay, they know that. Right now all they know is that their little girl is alive," Tori nodded and took a deep breath, she followed Montoya to an office room,

"Mr. and Mrs. Crowne?" Montoya asked, "Your daughter's here," Tori could see a glimpse of blond hair, followed by light brown as the two adults stood up. Taking another deep breath she stepped into the room,

"Tori!" a woman gasped. She didn't know what she was expecting, a spark of recognition…something she remembered, but it wasn't there. Her…mother rushed forward and pulled her into a hug, her…father came over and did the same. The man had light brown hair and green eyes while the woman had blond hair and Tori's blue eyes exactly. Tori had her mother's slender body structure. They were strangers to her, but they knew her…or who she once was,

"You're finally home,"  
Robotic-like Tori returned the hug, but she didn't feel it, not how she should feel it.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Hello there again. Here is chapter three. I got a head start on this story so I'll be posting three chapters at a time for today and tomorrow. After that I'll do one chapter every three days. Review if you can please!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING...Sadly.

Enjoy

Chapter: 3

They took her home. Well, what is supposed to be her home. It was a very lavish penthouse that could house at least ten people. Elegant wallpaper, huge living room and kitchen, two offices for the parents and a lot of bedrooms. Statues and paintings littered the walls and grounds. Tori couldn't believe she actually lived there. Her parents, Max and Maud Crowne were one of the richest people in the city. Second to Bruce Wayne and just a little ahead of the Powers…they tried not to show that it was a big deal to them…but Tori could tell they were happy they beat someone at being rich. Maud was a fashion legend who had her own line and store as well as magazine, Max was a science professor at Gotham University who taught bioengineering…or something like that, he also wrote many books on the subject he teaches and ran a company that researched bioengineering.

They were both speaking so fast and switching off who spoke so often on the ride up the elevator that Tori's head had started to spin again. Tori stood in the living room, unsure of what to make of everything she saw. Maud and Max stood a few feet away, by the grand piano, smiling at her. Tori just stood there…should she speak? Act like she remembered something…remembered them?

"Well?" Maud asked finally, "Do you remember anything?"

"No," Tori said, sighing defeated, "Nothing," her parents seemed to deflate,

"Ah well, there's still time," Max said, "The boys should still be asleep and Ali's at a friend's house for a sleepover, but they'll be so happy to see you're home!"

"Boys? Ali?" Tori asked confused,

"Right, no memory. They're your siblings," Max said brightly, as if not having any memories were just a walk in the park for them, "Your older brother Grant is home for a week from college, you two were like best friends, Liam is also older than you but is just a senior, close in age, Cameron is younger than you by I think eight years…so he's seven, almost eight though and Ali is your younger sister who's thirteen,"

"There are five of us?" Tori asked,

"Yup, five Crownes!" Maud said, "Spark any memories?"

"No!" Tori snapped, annoyed, do they really think I'll remember everything by tomorrow morning? Tori thought to herself, "Look…I'm tired…where's my room?"

"Down the hall and to the left," Maud said, pointing, "Has your name on it," Padding down the indicated hall Tori passed another room that said Jess on it,

"Who's Jess?" Tori asked,

"Our nannie. We work a lot, gotta have someone to keep track of our ducklings," Maud said as the parents headed up the winding staircase to the rooms above. Biting her lip Tori opened the door to her room, eyes closed and stepped inside. When she heard the door close behind her she opened them, hoping to remember something…anything that told her she was actually the Tori they remembered.

What she saw was a purple painted room with a queen sized bed pushed into the corner. A desk sat in front of a window overlooking the City with a laptop perched precariously on the edge, like she had closed it in a hurry before dashing off to…who knows where. The sheets on the bed were fresh, but rigid, like no one had used them in a while, pillows fluffed to perfection. A rumpled teddy bear was sat in front of the large cover pillow, arms open as if waiting for Tori to hug him. Near the door she had just come through was a bookshelf filled with books. Not just simple books, a wide and strange variety of subjects. They ranged from fantasy and sci-fi to criminology and forensic sciences. On her dresser there were dozens of photographs. Tori ran to them, hoping to see familiar faces.

One was of her family. Grant, was obvious because of his height and the fact that he seemed to be the oldest of the siblings. Tori looked like she was fifteen in the photo, obviously before her accident. He, at nineteen due to simple math, was tall with thick curly black hair and golden eyes. Tori didn't look much like him, but there she was, smiling with her arms thrown around Grant and Liam's shoulder. Liam was the same height as Tori, despite being a year older with blonde hair and the same golden eyes. He was on the skinny side but built like he was a distance runner. Ali at eleven stood off to the side, not exactly frowning, more like grimacing at her older siblings antics. Her silver blonde hair lighter than Maud's and Liam's with crystal green eyes like Max's eyes. She definitely seemed like a moody and grumpy person. She also resembled Max better than any of the older kids. Next was a six year old Cameron, hugging Maud's leg with an adorable pout. His light brown hair, was exactly like Max's, stood out and his green eyes were identical to their father's as well. Maud and Max were smiling, Maud had an arm around Ali's shoulder, as if trying to include her more in the photo and Max had a hand on Grant's shoulder. They all seemed so happy…even herself, although…she didn't know what to feel now. The absent nannie indicated that Jess was the one taking the photo. Smiling Tori turned to the other photos on her dresser.

They were of friends, all wearing the same outfit, probably uniforms. Some were of Grant, Liam, Tori and Ali heading off to school on their first days while some were of Tori and others. One had Tori with a brown haired girl and a red-haired girl. Tori tried to remember their names, but nothing came. Another showed Tori with a blonde hair girl with light brown eyes and a dark brown haired boy with electric blue eyes. They were laughing and Tori's hand was trying to grab the camera from whoever was taking the photo. The next few photos were of Tori and the two from before, but with others. Another red-haired girl, not the same from before, in a wheelchair and a black haired boy with dark blue eyes, like her own. Tori had apparently tried to take a selfie when no one was expecting it. They were all in the middle of doing something. The dark brown haired boy was whispering something to the blonde hair girl while the red-head was trying to wheel herself from the black hair boy who was playfully chasing her. Tori was making duck lips while rolling her eyes at herself, at least that's what she thought she was doing. Tori couldn't tell, she could also be trying to cross her eyes. Whoever those people were, it was clear she was close with them. Every other picture showed herself with them.

If there was a Christmas photo of her and her family, there was another with the others that weren't her family. It was clear Tori enjoyed being around people who were older than her, since the red-head and black haired boy appeared older than her. One of the last photos she looked at showed the same crew with two extras. One, a black haired and grey eyed boy of about eight and a green eyed black haired guy around the dark blue eyed guy's age, but most likely younger. They appeared to be in a living room, not Tori's, surrounding a table. She assumed they were all playing poker and it looked like the eight year old was winning. Tori was glaring at the boy as if accusing him of cheating while the blonde handed the dark blue eyed boy a card under the table. The red head wasn't with them this time, guess she was elsewhere. Tori couldn't tell who had taken the picture, but it seemed she had great friends.

Tori huffed out a sigh of frustration. She knew who these people were! She just couldn't remember their names, they felt so familiar…much more familiar than her home or her parents did. Tori guessed she spent much more time away from her parents than with them, she wondered why. They seemed nice enough. Looking around the room again she noticed trophies and ribbons. They were from a variety of sports. Ballet, soccer, karate, gymnastics,

"I wonder if I'll ever be the girl who won those trophies again," Tori murmured to herself. She seemed extremely talented from what was in her room. A pair of soccer cleats hung on the bedpost. Clothes littered the floor. Most of them leggings and fashionable tops. Looking over at the laptop on the desk, curiosity tugged her over to it. Opening the device and pressing the power button she found herself facing a log in display with a background of her in a gymnastics leotard with a second place medal around her neck. Tori shook her head, focusing on the password…nothing presented itself to her. She couldn't get into her own laptop,

"Fuck you amnesia!" she snarled, glaring at the computer, "What is wrong with me!" she felt anger, more like rage. One year of her life had been taken from her, One year. She couldn't remember a single detail…and she should be dead. Why wasn't she dead? What could've gone wrong…everyone said she was hit by a car, but there wasn't a mark on her and her memories weren't helping. Sighing she clicked the hint button for her password. The hint was: the greatest mystery of all time,

"Real helpful!" she muttered to herself, "There are tons of mysteries! How would I know which one?" she tried a bunch. Ranging from the Voynich Manuscript to the Kryptos and the Shugborough inscription. None of them worked. Tori then wondered how she even knew about those things. Giving up, Tori pulled back the sheets of the…her bed and forced herself to go to sleep. She'll get her answers tomorrow.

Tori woke to the sound of yelling. Blinking awake she remembered she was home…or what everyone tells her is her home. She listened, trying to hear who had been yelling,

"This is bullshit! Do you really expect us to believe our dead sister is alive?" a deep and angry voice exclaimed,

"Please, Grant. Don't be like this! Would we lie—," Maud's voice pleaded,

"Don't even try to use that line. You lie plenty!" Grant interrupted,

"Yeah mom, this is pretty far fetched," another, calmer voice stated,

"Liam. Believe us," Max said,

"This is a pretty cruel joke," another voice chimed in, Ali, Tori assumed. Should I go out there? Tori wondered,

"You got that right! They're fucking with us!" Grant yelled,

"Young man—," Max started, sounding angry,

"Don't young man me! You have no right since you tried to—,"

"Don't start with that!" Maud interrupted, "I know you're upset, but it's the truth,"

"I don't believe you! I'll prove this is bogus," Ali said, footsteps sounded. She must've ran out. Then footsteps started to get closer to Tori's room, not Ali's own room. Tori sat up, pillows were on the floor and Teddy was tossed onto the other side of the room entirely. Tori briefly wondered how that happened before the door was thrown open and Tori stared at the face of her younger sister. Ali stared back before screaming. Several footsteps sounded as Liam and Grant appeared beside their sister,  
"Tori?" Liam gulped,

"Tor?" Grant whispered, "is that you?"

"What the hell is going on!" Ali screamed, "You died! You were gone! I saw you die right there in that hospital!"

"Alison Crowne, stop screaming. You'll scare Cameron," Maud said, appearing behind them, one hand on her hip as if to say 'I told you so,'

"But..but..but," Liam seemed to be broken. Despite herself, Tori laughed,

"You guys should see your faces,"

"You remember them!" Maud exclaimed happily, Tori frowned,

"No…I recognized them from the pictures," she said guiltily,

"What do you mean by remember?" Grant asked, glaring suspiciously at Maud,

"She has amnesia," Max said from behind Maud, "Now if you three would be so kind as to give her some space—,"

"Space! She's been gone for one whole year. I'm never letting her go," Grant said, scooping her up into a hug. Tori returned the hug, less robotic-like as she did with Maud and Max…for some reason she felt better and more relaxed when hugging them,

"What happened to you?" Liam asked, he and Ali surrounded her bed as Grant put her down,

"I wish I remember," Tori said honestly, "I just woke up in New York City thinking I was in Gotham until the police found me,"

"New York City!" Ali exclaimed, "Lucky!"

"Lucky? She was hit by a car!" Liam cried,

"Whatever," Ali said crossing her arms and glaring at her brother, "The shopping there is cool,"

"You could buy the same stuff here," Liam said, rolling his eyes,

"I still don't understand how you're here," Grant said, smiling,

"Neither do I," Tori replied,

"Sorry to interrupt, but you kids are going to be late for school if you don't get your butts in motion," an auburn haired young woman appeared in the doorway with an eight year old Cameron in her arms. Tori just then notices the uniforms Liam and Ali were wearing, Cameron as well,

"Aw Jess can't we skip?!" Ali asked, "Family emergency!"

"No, to the car you two. Oh and Grant, there's a Riley on the phone for you?" Jess said, putting Cameron on the ground and handing Grant the phone,

"Shotgun!" Ali called as she sprinted out of the room,

"I'm older I get the front seat!" Liam called as he sprinted after her. Jess chuckled,

"Great kids but easily distracted," she said as Cameron ran after the two and Grant stepped out of the room talking on the phone, "Maud and Max have left for work. Why don't you get ready and I'll make up some breakfast for you?"

"That…that sounds great," Tori said, Jess nodded and started to leave the room,

"Oh and Tori?"

"Yes?"

"It's great to have you back," with that, the nannie left the room.


	4. Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OCs

Chapter: 4

Breakfast was french toast with strawberries whip cream and chocolate chips sprinkled on top. It was delicious, Tori scarfed up the whole thing in only three minutes,

"My your appetite has changed in the year you were gone," Jess said watching in amusement, but her expression sad,

"How long have you been our nannie?" Tori asked,

"Since duckling number three, you, were born. Sixteen years," Jess said, smiling fondly, "First family I've ever worked for and hopefully not my last,"

"Oh…I wish I remembered that," Tori said, frowning,

"Don't you frown kiddo. Buck up and look ahead. You'll get your memories back, it may take time, but that's what we're here for. I'll even quote the family motto for you, 'keep moving forward',"

"Everything's so strange to me. You know everything about me…but I don't remember any of that. I don't think I can be who I once was again,"

"And that's completely fine, no one said you had to go right back to being who you were," Jess said sympathetically,

"Do you mind filling some things in for me?" Tori asked,

"Sure a thing,"

"When was I born?"  
"August sixteenth," she said,

"Who are these people?" she asked, holding up the photo of her playing poker that she took from her room,

"Hmm, you were pretty secretive about your friends missy, I can't help you with that, sorry,"  
"It's fine. Was I good at ballet?","

"The best,"

"Gymnastics?"

"Took your team to nationals,"

"Karate?"

"Got your black belt when you were thirteen…about two months before winning second at the gymnastics nationals,"

"What happened that night?" Tori asked. Jess paused, pressing her lips in a fine line,

"All I know is that you disappeared. No one could find you in this house, you weren't supposed to be out that night. Whatever happened only you would know."

After the talk with Jess, Tori went back to her room and ruffled through her drawers. Trying to find anything that can be related to that night. Whatever had happened only she knew. Tori knew that she knew what happened…but she just didn't know what happened. But the feeling of dread in her stomach made her think it wasn't anything good. Pulling open on of the top drawers she found a box with a lock on it. She ruffled around the dresser looking for a key before giving up and pulling out a bobby pin. The lock came off with a satisfying click and she opened the box. Inside was a small compact radio. Tori stared at it with fascination…where did she get this? Why did she have this? What was it for? Picking it up she was about to turn it on when she felt excruciating pain behind her eyelids causing her to drop the radio and the box on the floor, she clutched the dresser and her head, grinding her teeth so she wouldn't cry out in pain. Something flashed before her eyes, like she was watching a TV show

 _Tori stood in front of a fire place. The warmth a relief after hiking up the long driveway in the snow. Holding a mug of hot apple cider she shed her scarf and gloves but kept her jacket on. She had to leave soon. Ali wanted to go shopping and as much as Tori hated it, she'd do anything to keep her sister happy for the next week, especially since their german Shepard, Ghost, died a few days ago. Ali had loved that dog. She spent more time with the mutt than with her own family. Footsteps came down the stairs from the hallway to the right, echoes noticed easily due to the largeness of the mansion,_

 _"What was soooo important you had to drag me away from the city on such short notice. Ali's close to a conniption in the car," She said, smirking playfully as her friend came down the stairs. His electric blue eyes rolling at her antics,_

 _"Well I could've given you this on Christmas, but I decided not to,"_

 _"A present for me! It's not even the tenth," Tori said, smiling,_

 _"Think of it as a gift from all of us,"_

 _"Even you-know-who?"_

 _"Probably not, but he didn't say no so that's something!" Tori laughed, "Okay, what is it? Wait…does it explode? My mom would not appreciate me blowing up our penthouse,"_

 _"It's not a bomb I promise," he said, pulling out a box from behind his back,_

 _"So it's buried treasure?" Tori questioned jokingly,_

 _"You're impossible," he said, rolling his eyes,_

 _"Sorry, I'll behave," he handed her a key,_

 _"Go on, open it," she did, inside was a radio, she gasped,_

 _"Is this what I think it is?"_

 _"A communicator," he said nodding,"You're a token hero afterall," he added,_

 _"Oh my gosh! Thank you so much! You're the best!" Tori said, flinging her arms around him, he blushed but returned the hug,_

 _"You have to keep it hidden though,"_

 _"I know!"_

 _"Remember, you can't go out, but you could listen…offer guidance. It's linked to our comms, no guarantee we will listen…but it'll be like you're with us,"_

 _"I'll be like O's second in command!" Tori said, smiling, "Thanks a lot TD, you're the best,"_

Tori blinked rapidly at the memory. It had to have been a memory, right? Looking at the picture of her, the girl and the boy…the boy from the memory. It had proven him a friend, but not revealed a name…initials possibly…but she didn't know what they stood for. Tori smiled, she was remembering things…confusing things…but things that could help her piece together her past and what happened. She will get to the bottom of this, she has to. She needs to learn the truth, even if what happens isn't what she wants to be true. Picking up the communicator she fingered the on button,

"Tori?" Jess asked, pushing open the door. Tori hid the device behind her back,

"Yes?"

"I was thinking you and I could cook something yummy up for dinner tonight. First full family dinner in a while,"

"Sounds great Jess…where is everyone? Shouldn't they be back form school?"

"Liam has track and Ali has tennis, those sports go on for at least two hours. Gotham Academy is known for their sports after all…that and students with diamonds as their pocket money," Jess said, rolling her eyes. Tori nodded, smiling at the joke, "Tori, you alright sweetie, you look like you've seen a ghost!"

"I'm fine," Tori stammered, "Just tired,"

"Okay, I'll boil the water and set up some stuff for you to cut up…you, you collect yourself," Jess said before leaving. Tori sighed and pulled out the radio, still fingering the power button. She sighed again before putting it back in the box and locking it. She had hidden it for a reason, it would stay hidden.


	5. Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OCs

Chapter: 5

Jess and Tori were half way through cooking dinner when the doorbell rang. Jess put down the pepper she was cutting and frowned,

"Hmm, could be Grant, he always forgets his key,"

"Wouldn't it be Liam or Ali?" Tori asked,

"No, Ali always goes shopping after tennis and Liam runs to the pizza place in the city for a snack with his track buddies. Cameron usually always goes to Maud's office after school,"

"All on his own? I can understand Ali and Liam alone in this city, not Cameron,"

"No, she picks him up. I secretly think he's her favorite. The only one that doesn't accuse her or Max of being liars,"

"Are they liars?" Tori asked, as the doorbell trilled again,

"Hold on a minute," Jess said, running to get the door. Tori quietly crept back to her room, she wanted to check out the radio again. She could tell Jess was arguing with someone. Tori wondered if she should go over and help her get rid of whoever it was. Suddenly there was a sound of stampeding feet and her door was thrown open and she was hug tackled by the blonde haired girl and brown haired boy from the pictures,

"It's really you!" the girl cried,

"I can't believe it," Jess appeared in the door, a little frazzled but smiling nonetheless,

"I'll finish dinner and let these rascals catch you up," she said, shooting the two runners a mock glare before leaving, closing the door behind you,

"How is this even possible?" the blonde asked,

"We saw you at the hospital," the boy said, well he wasn't really a boy. He was almost seventeen, same with the girl,

"Everyone says that when they see me," Tori said,

"But we did," the blonde said, "Everyone came, even those old friends you had and—why are you staring at me like that?"

"I'm sorry…I'm just trying to remember your names," she said honestly, "I…don't remember anything before waking up in New York of all places," The two gaped at her in shock,

"Seriously?" the girl asked, "Oh my god…I'm Stephanie by the way,"

"And I'm Tim,"

"Does your last name start with D?" Tori asked,

"Yes," he said smiling, "You remember something," Tori pulled out the box and opened it,

"Yeah, I remember you gave this to me," she said, "That's it,"

"I did give that to you," he said, "Glad you remember something,"

"It's strange. I don't remember my own home, but I remember you giving me some communicator for who knows what," Stephanie and Tim exchanged a look,

"Yeah, that is pretty strange,"

"You two know something that you're hiding from me," Tori said, it wasn't a question,

"Tori—," Tim started,  
"No, I want to figure it out on my own," Tori said, "I want to remember on my own. Something happened to me that I either can't remember…or don't want to remember and for some reason I forgot my past as well. But I'll figure it out. I have to,"

"You don't have to," Tim said, "You could start over. It's like a clean slate,"

"Yes I do. No one knows what happened that night but me, and I can't remember," Stephanie pursed her lips,

"Then we'll help you. We're your friends…it's the least we can do. In fact, we'll remind you of every person you ever met,"

"Stephanie do you think that's a good idea?" Tim asked, giving her a look again,

"I'm sure it is," Stephanie said, ignoring Tim and smiling brightly. She took out her phone, "Let's start from the top…" and they did. They told her everything. She memorized every aunt she had, uncle, grandparent, friend, boyfriends, everything…they were good at filling her in. Almost like they researched her entire life for some reason. By the time everyone else came home she had a pretty good idea of who everyone was. She kept wondering how Stephanie and Tim knew so much about her family, but decided to let it go…for now. She got no exact memories, but enough to feel more comfortable in the home she was in,  
"One more thing before you leave," she said to Tim and Stephanie, "You seem like you're pretty good with technology, could you break into my laptop for me?"

"Are you sure?" Tim asked, taking the computer from her, as Stephanie laughed at the comment for some reason,

"I forgot the password, so yes," and he cracked her computer open for her,

"There you go, hope you find what you're looking for," he said,

"Me too, not that I have any idea what that is," Tori said, "I'll see you guys again right?"

"Of course you will," Stephanie said, "We're not letting you out of our sight again Tori," Tori laughed as they left. She then hurried down to dinner. She could feel a shift in her, like she was just starting to wake up. Maybe that was a good sign…maybe not, but she felt closer to discovering her answers.

A/N: And we are finally introduced to Tim and Stephanie who know a little more than they probably should don't they? REVIEW!


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING EXCEPT MY OCs.

Chapter: 6

Tori was nervous. She was returning to school for the first time since coming back to Gotham. Right now she was crammed in between Cameron and Ali. Ali was fixing her makeup while Cameron was waving his action figure around in her face,

"What do you have there buddy" she asked, smiling,

"Batman!" he yelled excitedly, "Daddy got me him for Christmas!" Tori smiled and looked at the 'batman' in his hand. Suddenly the pain in her head was back, _she heard the screeching of bats echoing around… somewhere…and black rock_. She blinked and it was gone,

"T-that's cool Cam," she said,

"You okay back there honey? If you don't want to go I can take you right back home," Jess said looking in the review mirror,

"No, I want to. I've been cooped up in that house for too long," she said, "I need to spread my wings," her head ached again. _She saw a flash of red and black wings_ before the colors disappeared. The memory flashes have been happening more often. Some including her life before she met Tim and Stephanie, some memories of things she couldn't understand or describe…things that made sense to her past self that remembered them but that she couldn't understand right then. It was confusing and caused her head to feel like an overripe tomato. She was remembering her family…but not everything. There was something they were hiding and something Tim and Stephanie were hiding. Sighing she stared out the windshield to the traffic of the city. Her laptop hadn't been much help, she read every document she ever written and every article about her parents…but nothing really clicked, and there were no hidden messages to herself for in case she got amnesia…note to self: do that for any possible future amnesia attacks, Tori thought,

"Are you going to try out for gymnastics again?" Liam asked from the front seat, "Junior year is when everything really counts,"

"Well I'm glad I'm not a junior yet then. I'm only doing tennis and Tori usually does at least three sports," Ali said, examining her nails. Her silver blond hair plaited with no hair out of place,

"What?" Tori asked,

"The gymnastics team…you used to be on it,"

"And the winter track team and the soccer team in the spring,"

"I don't think I could even do a cartwheel now," Tori said, frowning, "I don't remember how,"

"It's like riding a bike, once you try it again, it's like you never stopped riding," Liam said,

"Don't you go making her do something that could get her hurt on her first day Liam!" Jess cautioned, "Let her ease into it. If she remembers doing it, then fine, but we can't let her do anything too strenuous yet,"

"Okay, geez," Liam muttered,

"Alright you guys out. Ali make sure Cameron is in his classroom before you leave," Jess said as she pulled up to the towering brick building of Gotham Academy,

"Yeah, yeah, whatever,"

"Alison Crowne look at me. Take him to his classroom or I will tell Maud who broke that priceless vase last year," Jess said dangerously serious,

"I will I will!" Ali said, grabbing her bag and Cameron's hand, guiding him…more like dragging him, to the elementary school building,

"Liam, make sure she goes to her class too. I don't trust her since the last time she was caught skipping," Jess said, Liam nodded and went after his younger siblings,

"She skips?" Tori asked, slowly getting out of the car,

"Yeah, was caught last year…she used to be such a sweet girl then everything changed and she's only in seventh grade,"

"It's my fault," Tori said,

"No Tori, it's not your fault," she said,

"Yes it is…I just feel like it is. I worried everyone and it turned out I wasn't even dead,"

"Things were tough when…what happened happened…something like what happened to you changes people. We buried you, Ali saw her sister out six feet in the ground. Maud and Max erased everything about you but your room. Tried to pretend you never existed,"

"Is that why Grant called them liars?"

"In a way," Jess said, "…They were lying to themselves, they thought it would help but it didn't," Tori sighed, "Call me if you feel like trying out for gymnastics again and I'll come by at five instead of two fifteen, 'kay?"

"Okay," Tori said, taking a deep breath and walking over to the high school building.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The minute she stepped through the doors all eyes were on her. Whispers started to filter through the air, people craned their necks to get a better look a her,  
"Wasn't she shorter?"  
"Doesn't she have amnesia or something?"  
"Didn't she die?" Tori held her head high and started to walk down the hall, trying to seem like she had an idea of where she was going, but really she didn't have a clue where she should be going. The people in the hallway parted for her like she was Moses splitting the sea in half. She bit her lip, trying not to show that their stares and whispers got to her. Halfway down the hallway she debated turning and fleeing back to Jess in the car, but she internally shook her head stubbornly. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction,

"Hey! Tori!" a voice called, she turned to see the brown haired and red haired girl from the first picture of friends walking down the hallway towards her. They wore matching head bands and seemed to be smirking even though they were trying to be friendly, "It's not like you to go walking away from your best friends," the red head said, "I'm Olivia by the way, in case you really don't have any memories,"

"And I'm Zoe," the brown haired girl said slowly, as if Tori couldn't understand. Tori clenched her hands,  
"I know who you are," she said, total bluff, but she didn't care,

"Oh you do do you?" Zoe said, "Is it true you faked your death just to joy-ride to New York City?"

"Or did the car that hit you drag you all the way there?" Olivia asked, before the two laughed,

"No, I just hitchhiked to gain some distance from you and your bitchiness," Tori said crossing her arms to hide her hands that were now shaking in rage,

"That was rude," Zoe said, "How could you talk to your friends like that?" everyone was watching,

"I'm not your friend. For all I know it was you who hit me that night when you were black out drunk just to get attention from daddy and mommy dearest," Tori said, Zoe and Olivia glared at Tori in absolute rage, unable to respond. The bell finally rings, but everyone is still frozen in place,

"Tori! C'mon we're going to be late," Stephanie said, walking past Zoe and Olivia still standing like idiots in the middle of the hallway and grabbing Tori by the arm,

"Late for what?"

"For class, what else. What were you doing in the middle of the hallway?"

"Just chatting with Zoe and Olivia,"

"They are not you're friends, not since you met us…trust me, you don't want to know them," Steph said firmly,

"I believe you," Tori said, glaring daggers at the backs of the two girls hurrying away in the opposite direction.

Classes were so mundane to how her life had been the past two weeks. Her whole life a fill in the blank with no answers to really supply it. Sure she was remembering her childhood, but as much as she wanted to remember that part of her life she wanted to remember what happened the night she supposedly died, and she still had zilch and nada for that part,

"C'mon people. It's a story that's something out of an Indiana Jones movie. Stone…old, c'mon people…what is it? No one?" the teacher was saying. Tori had forgot which class she was in, but that didn't stop her,

"The Phaistos Disc," she said,

"Thank you—!" Tori didn't stop,

"Discovered by Italian archeologist Luigi Pernier in 1908 in the Minoan palace-site of Phaistos, the disc is made of fired clay and contains mysterious symbols that may represent an unknown form of hieroglyphics. It is believed that it was designed sometime in the second millennium BC." she said it like she was reading it right in front of her…not knowing really why or how she knew that information,

"How could you know that?" The teacher asked,

"I…I don't know," Tori said,

"Okay smarty pants," the teacher said, "what region did people think the scripts were from?"

"Ancient Crete," she said. Tori blinked, how had she known that? People gave her shocked looks,

"What, did you read the entire textbook in the 'afterlife?'" the teacher joked,

"As a matter of fact they did have a giant bookshelf dedicated to all the textbooks on the world's mysteries for the dead to read," Tori joked, smirking slightly. Everyone laughed and the teacher went back to his lecture. Tori shakily jotted down notes…but her thoughts were racing at the incident that just happened. Tori didn't know how she knew all that, the answers just flew into her head. She needed those answers fast, something's wrong with her.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Classes rolled by and she found the thing that happened before to happen more and more often, especially if she really wanted the answer. It was like she suddenly knew everything, she didn't need her calculator to do math, she knew every date in history class and each technique in art class. She was losing her mind, she had to be, no one could disappear and suddenly know everything they couldn't have known all of a sudden. Gym rolled around, Tori didn't mind it as much, as long as nothing weird happened. They were playing dodge-ball, which the guys were stoked about, the girls not so much. Tori stood in the back of the gym, watching the guys pelt each other with rubber red balls, suddenly someone shouted,

"Tori look out!" Tori turned her head to see red flying at her, she flinched arms out…and caught the ball. The guy who threw it stare at her shocked before stomping off the court grumbling under his breath,

"Nice catch," a guy said to her left, she smiled at him, "Are you going to throw it? 'Cause if you can't I understand,"

"What do you mean if I can't?"

"Well for one thing, you're a girl, another, you died for like one year,"

"I didn't die," she said getting angry,

"Yeah, well then where were you? Ran away because you couldn't handle life in this city? Or did you go to rehab?" he might've been teasing or joking, but that was rude nonetheless. Tori felt rage push through, gritting her teeth she gripped her rubber ball better. Others still whaling on each other oblivious to the two of them talking,

"Are you going through withdrawal Crowne? Throw the stupid ball!" the boy sneered, Tori saw red and before she knew what had happened, she had chucked the ball at him, hard. He flew into the nearby wall with a heavy crack resonating before landing, groaning, on the floor. The ball bounced back to her and she grabbed it, throwing at the boy again, it hit him in the face, he cried out, covering his face with his hands and cowering in fear,

"How's that for a runaway druggie?" she snarled, picking up the ball one last time,

"Crowne! That's enough!" the gym coach yelled, grabbing the ball from her, "Not only is he on your team but it's unnecessary roughness. Back on the bench until you cool down!" she said, helping the boy up. He had a bloody nose and was clutching his side,

"Crazy bitch," he snarled,

"Don't you say that. I saw everything and _heard_ what you said to her. I have ears like a bat," the coach snarled at the boy, "but let's get you to the nurse. Someone take him," Tori took a deep breath, heading to the bleachers when she noticed that the boy had an imprint of the red rubber ball's design on his right cheek. She blinked, had she really thrown the ball that hard…had she?

Eventually the coach let her play again. Tori stayed in the back of the court, she didn't want to get angry again, she was scared to get angry. But the other team had other ideas. Apparently the boy she thrown the ball at had friends on the other team and were out for revenge. She dodge every ball thrown at her, even did a back hand spring to avoid two of them, shocking herself and the other team, but of course she wasn't so lucky after that. She got slammed in the face by a big red ball, she couldn't even stop herself as she fell backwards, her head slamming onto the hardwood floor with a loud crack. Tori dimly heard the whistle blow before she only saw blackness.

A/N: Hmm, something strange is going on with Tori. She's more of a brainiac than usual and the imprint on that dude's cheek is strange. Anyway here's the link for the info I got on the Phaistos Disc: lifestyle/arts-culture/photos/10-of-the-worlds-biggest-unsolved-mysteries/phaistos-disc

It also shows the Kryptos and Voynich manuscript mentioned in earlier chapters. Next time we'll be meeting a new character and this will be the last time three chapters are up in one day. There will be one chapter every three days though I may change that if I get some review ;) SO REVIEW!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: I lied...I'm not posting every three days...I'll be posting everyday until I tell myself to drag this story out, it's just because I am so excited about this story which will get pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

DISCLAIMER I OWN NOTHING YADA YADA YADA

Enjoy!

Chapter: 7

Flashes flipped through her mind. Her earliest memories, flickering in and out of existence as her mind brought back things from her childhood. She saw herself grow up through her eyes, feel her emotions as the events of her life took place. But there were relapses, things that were blank. She remembered meeting Tim and Steph, but only remembered half of what they did together…like her mind was letting her remember only half of the story that was her, Tim and Steph, there was something missing. Nothing on her last night 'alive' or her so called friends Olivia and Zoe. Even her parents influence on her life was muted. The memories suddenly stop, only blackness is apparent, Tori could hear voices,

"…Dodge-ball," it was the coach,

"…X-ray…we should do a CT scan too, just to make sure it's nothing serious. She was suffering from memory loss and a coma…supposedly," a school nurse probably,

"We'll take her to Dr. Thompson," Thompson…that rang a bell for Tori. She tried to stay focused on the voices, but she succumbed to blackness again.

The next time she woke up she could hear loud beeping and she fully opened her eyes, freaking out when realized she was in a tubed machine,

"Let me out!" she screamed, pounding on the sides of the machine. She was suddenly pulled out and faced with blinding white lights, the anti-bacterial smell common with hospitals prominent. It made her nervous and nauseous for some reason. She blinked until she could see an old lady staring worriedly down at her,

"Are you alright dear?" she asked,

"Where am I?" she demanded,

"You're at my clinic dear. They rushed you here the moment you hit your head on the ground. I was the closest to the school and I had better equipment than the school did. Don't worry, your parents…or caretaker really have been notified. She's waiting outside," the lady said,

"What are you doing…who are you?"

"I'm Dr. Thompson, most call me Dr. Leslie. I was giving you a CT scan just to make sure nothing too bad happened to your head. We already took an X-ray,"

"Oh, okay," she said, "Sorry I freaked out,"

"It's absolutely understandable, we weren't sure whether you would wake up before, after or during the CT scan. You were stable enough for us to go right to the machine so we thought what the heck. I thought I had more time though,"

"Sorry…this whole thing is pretty unfortunate, the only good thing that came out of this is that I regained some of my memories,"

"That's great. Anything about the night of the accident?" Leslie asked,

"No…mostly just bits of my childhood," she said shrugging,

"Let's continue the scan and then I'll send you home. You'll have to come back later for the results,"

"Okay, I can do that," she said, laying back down. The scan took a while, Tori was relieved when they finally left, her stomach was tying itself in knots, like her body remembered being in the hospital and that it didn't like them.

Jess was pulling the car around when she noticed him. A guy staring at her from an alley, he was glaring at her in curiosity and she…she _knew_ him…from somewhere,

"What are you staring at?" Jess asked,

"Hold on, I'll be right back," Tori said, walking over to where the guy disappeared into the alley. She intellectually knew that it was a stupid idea, but she…she knew that guy, Tori knew she knew him from somewhere,

"Hey!" she called, "Hey! You!" she yelled at his retreating back,

"You yelling at me?" he called, turning around, Tori rolled her eyes,

"No I'm yelling at the other guy in this alley," she said,

"What's your deal?" he asked, smirking. Tori marched right up to him,

"I know you," she said, "I know you from somewhere,"

"Do you?" he stated frowning, "You don't remember?"

"I do know you don't I?" she said, he was really frowning now, "The picture…poker," she said, his face flashed with anger…at something, but then he cracked a smile, a forced smile. Like it pained him to smile at her,

"Keep guessing, you'll get there eventually," with that he turned and headed out the other end of the alley. Frowning Tori left to Jess's car, she was so frustrated that she couldn't remember him…she knew he was connected to the other half of the memories she had with Steph and Tim…she felt it deep down…but she didn't know what those memories were, she was determined to find out the truth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Unbelievable," Maud said, "You remember so much more than before," she said happily, after Tori recounted every memory she received of her childhood,

"It's amazing," Max agreed,

"I don't remember everything," Tori said, picking at her food,

"Well what you do remember is pretty amazing,"

"If only you could remember what you were doing in New York," Ali said, twirling her pasta strand around and around her fork,

"I really don't,"

"Or you're just not telling us," Ali put in,

"If I ever remember, you'll be the first to know," Tori said dryly,

"Maybe you were kidnapped," Liam suggested,

"No ransom," Max said,

"Maybe they didn't want money,"

"We saw her in the hospital…she could be a clone!" Cameron said,

"You were six! What could you remember from that moment!" Liam said,

"Wait…I was in the hospital?" Tori asked, a thought occurring,

"Yes," Maud said, "You were in the hospital, in a coma for a week before you…before you died,"

"But that's not possible…if I died, how could I end up in New York?" that thought was nagging at her…scaring her,

"It doesn't really matter, you're here now and that's all that does matter," Max said, she couldn't believe he just said that,

"You're a science professor! How could you say it doesn't really matter?" Tori exclaimed,

"I have my daughter back and that's all that matters," Max said,

"Do you hear yourself. You're saying I was buried, yet I'm sitting right here," thought still there,

"I don't understand why you're getting so worked up over this," Maud said,

"I'm getting worked up because you buried someone who shouldn't have been buried," the elephant in the room that everyone's avoiding,

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"It was a closed coffin sweetie,"

"Why, I wasn't horribly disfigured was I? I look exactly the same in all the pictures. They even took an X-Ray, no injury related to a car accident found," She did not like that they had such a lack of interest in this topic,

"Well it was a hit and run, pretty gory," Max said,

"Still what if there was someone in that coffin and it wasn't me! How could you not care,"

"We don't care for a lot of things, like losing our children, others aren't our concern,"

"Yeah, 'others aren't your concern'. I remember growing up in this dark and corrupt city constantly worried and scared for you two. Comforting my siblings constantly whenever there was a breakout, whenever the Joker got loose or Two-Face or Bane because you weren't there, you were working!" Tori said, anger rising fast, "Not caring about anything but your jobs!"

"Watch yourself young lady, everything we did was for you! All of you," Maud said angrily, pointing at each kid, who looked down at their plate, not getting angered except for Tori,

"Yeah, 'for us.' Even when I was deemed dead you tried to erase that sadness. I bet you went to work the next day, not even caring that you're leaving three children, four if you include Grant, home with only Jess to console them, nothing to remember the sister they lost by. Just an empty, quiet and sad house," Tori yelled,

"That's enough! Go to your room!" Maud snapped,

"Gladly," Tori sneered, getting up so fast her chair slapped to the ground, she was gone before anyone could blink. How could no one have thought of this before?

In the safety of her room Tori paced back and forth, biting her nails. She kept thinking about that thought over and over again. If they buried her, how could she be here? Suddenly Cameron's clone theory didn't seem so crazy. If she was here there couldn't have been a body…unless there was and someone had mistaken it for her…some poor girl's body was in a grave…someone died whose family didn't know they died. But wasn't there tests conducted to make sure the body was the correct body? Something was going on, some conspiracy…Tori needed to get to the bottom of it. To do that, she needed to go to the source, and that meant one thing…she'd need help. Snatching up her cell phone Tori typed in her desired command,

"Hey Tori, s'up?" Stephanie asked,

"Hey how do you feel about digging up a grave with me?" Tori said getting straight to the point,

"I—wait, what?" Tim's voice echoed from somewhere in the area,

"Wait…Tim are you at Stephanie's house?" Tori asked,

"No…"

"But…where are you?"

"Out," was all he said,

"It's a school night,"

"It's not that late,"

"But—that's not the point, I need you to meet me at Gotham's cemetery, I'll explain everything there,"

"Why?" Stephanie asked,

"I said I'd explain there!"

"But—,"

"I'm doing this with or without you guys," Tori said before hanging up. She gathered a shovel, flashlight and jammed on a pair of leggings, a black tank-top with a black sweatshirt thrown over it and pulled on a dark purple beanie hat. Tori then carefully inched past the dining room, sticking to the shadows, only stopping once when Jess passed by and slipped out of the penthouse. She had made sure to lock her door. Tori was getting her answers to the mystery of her mysterious death one way or another.

A/N: Well, that's illegal. Hopefully Steph and Tim can help Tori without revealing their own little secret ;) and who knew Maud and Max were such horrible parents? Originally I had thought and hoped they would be the good guys, but my imagination hijacked my motor skills of typing. REVIEW AND MAYBE I WILL POST TWO CHAPTERS TOMORROW!

P.S - tell me in the reviews if my line break isn't showing up, it's supposed to be just a bunch of dots in a row across the page. For some reason I'm having real trouble with the line break thing on the site so I tried making my own. Let me know!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Here's another chapter, true to my word.

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING

Enjoy!

Chapter: 8

Tori stood outside the cemetery wall, tapping her foot impatiently and checked her watch of the fifth time that minute. She wasn't sure if they would come, she was nervous…she hoped she didn't sound as crazy as she thought she had on the phone, but Tori was overly determined to discover the truth and remember. On the way over she skirted around every shadow as if they had actual people in them and avoided every car that came her way. She dodged the CCTV cameras, she didn't want to be caught…half of her wondered how she knew where the cameras were,

"Okay Tori we're here," Tim's voice came from the shadows as he and Stephanie stepped into view. Both wearing black sweatshirts…though they seemed bulky for some reason…and Stephanie's hood was purple…but no other part of her sweatshirt had purple on it,

"What's this all about?" Stephanie asked,

"What do you think this is about?" Tori snapped, "It's about that night. I was 'hit by a car' yet I'm standing right here!"

"It's a miracle," Tim agreed, though Tori didn't miss the shared look with Stephanie,

"Something happened that night," Tori said, "I'm not supposed to be alive, but I am. I was buried, but I was found in New York, there's too many holes in that story for that to be true. There's someone in that grave who they identified as me…some innocent girl in there,"

"You don't know that," Stephanie said, frowning in sympathy,

"But I will. If that grave is empty it proves that I was kidnapped that night…not killed. But if it's not empty…I don't know what that means…it just…it just has to be empty," Tori said,

"Alright…how do we get in. Security cameras are on the gate that is locked up," Tim said,

"Not on the sides," Tori said, running towards the wall and bracing her foot on the brick using the leverage to launch herself up and grabbing the ledge while pulling herself into a hand-stand before landing on her feet on the other side. Tim and Steph did the same, or a version of the same,

"I thought you didn't remember much from your gymnastics days?" Tim asked,

"I remembered after I got knocked out by a dodge ball today," Tori replied,

"Oh…ow,"

"How did you do that…I know you don't do gymnastics,"

"We just followed your example," Tori nodded but didn't say anything, she didn't believe them…but she'll let it go,

"Where's my grave?" she asked instead, trying not to fear the fact she'll be seeing her own grave,

"Over here in the family plot," Tim said, starting to walk over. Reluctantly hesitant, Tori followed. She didn't know what to expect, seeing her own grave. Wasn't that some sort of bad omen? Wasn't it in Back to the Future…or something? Tori didn't know, but she needed to do this,

"This is so spooky," Stephanie said as they stepped around tombstones and mausoleums, "I feel like something's gonna jump out at us,"

"Or crawl up out of the ground," Tim muttered, Steph elbowed him in the ribs and gave him a look. Tori tried to ignore that gesture, but something about it seemed like they knew things that she didn't. They were supposed to be her friends yet they weren't telling her everything. They were lying and Tori had just about enough with lies…but she kept quiet, they needed to find her grave,

"I still can't believe we're doing this," Steph whispered quietly, "Isn't this illegal?"

"Not if it's your own grave," Tori said, "…I think,"

"That sounds real promising," Tim said, rolling his eyes, though the gesture was lost in the darkness,

"Well you didn't have to come,"

"Yes we did," Stephanie said,

"But you were out, probably doing something important,"

"Nah…it wasn't too important," Tim replied,

"What were you doing?" Tim and Steph were silent for a minute or two,

"Eating…." Tim started,

"Nachos?" Steph supplied…though she sounded unsure herself, Tori, gritting her teeth and let that lie go,  
"Sounds delicious," Tori said, just as they reached her family's plot. The headstones gleamed in the moonlight and she could see her's clearly. It was grand, but still the standard headstone. Her name, birth date and death date engraved on it's marbled surface. Taking a deep breath she stepped forward and held out the two other shovels to Steph and Tim,

"I can't believe we're doing this," Tim sighed as he stabbed the cold earth with his shovel,

"You don't have to," Tori said, doing the same,

"We're your friends, it's what friends do no matter how crazy this is," Stephanie said, plunging her's in as well,

"Are you my friends? You keep lying to me," Tori said through gritted teeth, digging into a grave was hard,

"Of course we're your friends. So what, people lie all the time. It's part of human nature, but you did say you wanted to discover the truth on your own,"

"I guess so, but I feel like I'm missing something big, something important," Tori replied,

"Amnesia tends to do that," Steph said dryly. Rolling her eyes, Tori continued digging.  
It took hours, it took forever, but they finally hit the coffin,

"I don't know what's worse, the fact that we have to open this dang coffin, or the fact that we have to fill this damn hole up after just digging it out!" Stephanie huffed, annoyed, holding her flashlight over the coffin,

"Okay," Tori said, "let's do this," she leapt down into the hole and gripped the coffin head's opening,  
"Tori, are you sure you want to do this?" Tim asked from the side opposite Stephanie,

"I'm sure. Something's off with the whole story. If I died, how can I be alive. If I was buried…how can I be standing here? If this coffin is empty, it'll prove that Max and Maud were lying and they know something about the disappearance,"

"You actually think they would erase your memories and fool everyone in Gotham…possibly the world? They have no reason…plus we saw you in the hospital," Stephanie said,

"But you didn't see me die," Tori said softly, "You only visited to say goodbye," Tim and Stephanie winced,

"You need to understand, the chances of you living were extremely slim," Tim said, "We felt…guilty," just as Stephanie blurted out,

"Sad," they both glared at each other,

"Which was it, guilty or sad?" Tori said,

"Both," they said in unison,

"Because we weren't there for you when you needed us most,"

"The…the night I got hit…did I use the communicator you gave me?"

"No," Tim said, "It was silent that night…that's how we knew something was wrong,"

"I didn't use it just for that reason," Tori said, she had wanted them to know she wasn't where she was supposed to be…that way if she was in danger…someone would know, Tori had known wherever she was going was dangerous,

"Let's open this coffin," Tori said, flinging the top half of the coffin open. Everyone gasped and took a step back. Tim nearly dropped his flashlight while Stephanie whispered, "This isn't possible." Inside was a girl. Her eyes were closed, her hair brushed and smooth, though thin from decaying for one year. Her hair was brown, but almost dusted in grey from the dirt. Her skin was pale, stretched and disappearing altogether in some parts. She wore a school uniform, like Tori's. She looked around fifteen. Stephanie was right…this wasn't possible. But looking at this girl, flung Tori into a memory:

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

 _Tori sped-read through her notes on her computer. Not believing what she was reading. The evidence she put together, the pieces of the puzzle she thought she'd never understand finally coming together. She hated it, she needed to do something. Quickly she deleted the file, she'd have to permanently delete everything later, right now she needed to stop this. Leaping up she dashed through the rest of the penthouse, briefly checking the clock. If they were this punctual all the time she needed to act fast. Everyone was gone, only Jess and Cameron remained in the house. Tori stealthily avoided the two and closed the door without a sound. She didn't have time to be stopped, questioned and eventually have to lie to Jess. Dashing down the stairs, the elevator would be too slow she sprinted past the doorman, not even waving hello or goodbye._

 _Once out in Gotham she stopped, she needed to be careful about this. They'd be out there, they would stop her for sure, make it their case. Tori couldn't do that, this was her case. She collected the evidence and information, she tracked the patterns and movement of everything that was happening, and now, she was going to do something about it. Looking both ways she darted into an alleyway. Avoiding the pimps, gunslingers and druggies, she zig-zagged her way through the city until she was in Crime Alley. Until she was where her evidence pointed to. She was right on time, she turned the corner just as a stranger pulled a young girl into the car and sped off into the night,_

 _"Damn it!" Tori hissed, not even thinking she backtracked and sprinted down the streets, thankful for the sprints and laps her soccer coach forced them to do. She needed to reach the intersection before the car did. No one used the street that's how they got away with what they do. Her mind flashed back to the maps she memorized of Gotham, the intersection was to her left at the end of the alley. As soon as she hit the mouth of the alley she took a sharp left and sprinted down the sidewalk and onto the cross-way etched into the ground just as the car did. Tori froze in the glare of the headlights as a reflex and the car screeched to a halt,_

 _"Let her go!" Tori screamed, slamming her hands on the hood and glaring angrily through the windshield. Chest heaving she slammed on the hood again, "Let her go you God damn bastards!" The doors opened and Tori took a gulp of breath, unsure of their intentions,_

 _"You have no right!" Tori yelled, then she continued to her astonishment, "Take me instead!" she stopped, breath hitching…had she really just said that? Why did she say that? She wouldn't wish what they were doing on anyone else, but she wouldn't really want to take their place…why had she said that. A voice behind her startled her out of her shock,_

 _"So be it," he monotoned, grabbing her from behind. Tori screamed and kicked, thrashing in his grip as the others in the car shoved the girl they just abducted out into the street. Tori noticed the girl's GA uniform and that her leg was broken. Her name was Penny Avalon a voted look-alike to Tori for last year's yearbook. Tori squirmed until she was in the perfect position to bite the man in the arm. He yowled, growling under his breath he promptly and swiftly broke Tori's arm. She cried out in pain, her resolve and strength fading. The man then forced a cloth of chloroform in her face, she tried not to breathe but the man twisted her arm causing her to cry out. She inhaled unintentionally and the world around her swirled. The man in the trench coat swept her up into his arms and began to carry her to a separate van from the car that had taken Penny. It had been a drop off, they had stopped an intersection before they were supposed to and the man had wondered where they were. He came looking and saw Tori. Her head lolled back and she saw the car start forward and one of the lackeys shove Penny in front of it. The girl's scream echoed Tori's yell, Penny's scream was abruptly cut off. Tori closed her eyes, wishing she had called for help…wishing she had never done what she'd done. It was all her fault. The man carrying her whispered in her ear, "They'll never know you were taken," right before darkness took her._

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Tori blinked, she was looking up at the starry night sky, Stephanie and Tim staring down at her worriedly. Tori sat up quickly, tears prickling her eyes but she forced them back,

"What happened?" Tori asked,

"You just collapsed," Stephanie said, "No warning, just fell over…scared the hell out of us,"

"I don't understand," Tim whispered, "How is this possible?"

"That's Penny," Tori said hoarsely,

"Penny Avalon?" Stephanie exclaimed, stunned, Tori nodded,

"They killed her,"  
"They?" Tim asked, eyes narrowed,

"I tried to stop them…but they still killed her,"

"So that's how she ended up in here…they thought she was you,"

"I was missing from the house. I left telling no one where I was going…no witnesses…not even the doorman. When the police found her, they thought it was me," Tori said,

"The doctors should've known," Stephanie said,

"I don't know…I-I just don't know," Tori said, head slumping to her knees, tears running down her face, "It's all my fault,"

"No. Don't you dare say that," Stephanie said, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, looking up at Tim. Some sort of verbal-less communication going between them, "You were trying to save her from whoever 'they' were. Wherever they were going to take her,"

"You don't understand. They were just going to take her somewhere, but I interfered…I said 'take me instead' and they did…but they—they killed her instead of letting her go," Tori said miserably,

"She knew too much," Tim said, "Either way they would have killed one of you," Stephanie shot him a glare,

"Really?" she said, still glaring,

"It's the truth," Tim said shrugging apologetically, "Why were you out?" he asked Tori,

"I-I don't know…I was, investigating something I think. The way I remembered it made me think of police work," Tim frowned and Steph looked guilty of something. Tori didn't understand them at times,

"We need to fill this hole," Tim said,

"We need to tell someone about this," Tori insisted,

"Who? The police? They'll arrested us for sneaking into the graveyard at night and digging up one of the graves! They wouldn't believe us anyway,"

"Then how do we tell her family? They probably still think she's out there, that she's just missing,"

"We'll find a way. Bruce knows how to contact Batman through Batman Inc." Tim said, Tori laughed bitterly,

"Like he'd care about some girl in the wrong person's grave," Tori sneered, "He has better things to do than deal with some delinquent kids' discovery,"

"That may be true, but this is a big deal. There are people snatching kids off the streets and taking them who knows where and the only person who knows where that is and what they do is you," Tim said. Tori blinked,

"What?"

"You survived Tori," Steph said, "You're the only one."

A/N: Whoa, another memory. So her parents are definitely not behind this, doesn't let them off the hook for not investigating what happened though. Tomorrow we'll have another chapter and hopefully more REVIEWS!

Please REVIEW!


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hope you like this tale so far! This is a LONG chapter.

Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING

Enjoy!

Chapter: 9

Tori had ran away from the cemetery promptly after filling the hole and making it look like it hadn't been disturbed. Tori had ran home, fast as she could and once she was home she slammed her door closed as quietly as possible. Collapsing on her bed, her thoughts rushing like a whirlwind. She had been taken and brought somewhere, Penny, that poor girl, had been killed. It was her fault, despite whatever Stephanie and Tim said. There were many other ways she could have handled that situation, and she chose the one where they both lost. Tori could have called for help, or the 'they' she had been thinking of the night she saw the trench coat guy or she could have called the police. Anything would have been better but she took off like some amateur vigilante. Pain lanced through her head. Gritting her teeth she clutched her head as a memory played in her head,

 _'you can't just prance around like you're one of us Tori. It's dangerous. You aren't a vigilante, not even an amateur one,'_ Tori could hear herself respond despite not seeing herself or who she was talking to _'I never said I wanted to be one,' she said, 'Glad we agree,_ _ **go home.'**_ Tori blinked, releasing her head. What was that about? She thought, who could she have been talking to? Shaking her aching head, it didn't matter. What mattered was getting to the bottom of the truth, and she'd start tomorrow. Tori could barely keep her eyes open it was so late, that and she had school tomorrow.

The Crowne house was a crazy ordered chaos the next morning. The parents leaving for work around four in the morning when Jess was not up caused the coffee maker to explode. That catastrophe woke up Grant who regrettably tried to fix it which only broke it even more. The yelling between parents and son woke up Cameron who in retaliation woke up Jess who started laughing and yelling at the same time which woke up the other three Crowne kids. Now, with the parents gone and Grant heading back to school, it was just the four kids, waiting for their breakfast. Jess, whipped up enough eggs for Liam's four stomachs and pancakes for Tori's hungry stomach. For some reason she was always hungry now-a-days,

"I don't get it, you never used to eat like me," Liam said around a mouthful of eggs,

"I don't know, I'm just so hungry all the time now,"

"If you keep eating like that, you'll get fat," Ali said pointedly, staring glumly at her oatmeal mush and her protein shake that Jess had kindly mixed up in the blender,

"Do you want my last pancake?" Tori asked, Ali looked up, as if shocked she offered,

"Hmmm, yep," Ali said, swapping it with her oatmeal,

"Okay you two, get your sports equipment ready and high tail to the car," Jess said to Ali and Liam. Rolling their eyes the two dashed away. Tori was just about to get up to grab her bag when Jess stopped her,

"Where were you last night?" she asked, Tori pulled her best 'who me?' expression, "Don't pull the 'I have no idea what you're talking about' crap. I know you left," Tori sighed,

"I went to hang out with Stephanie and Tim," Tori said, Jess narrowed her eyes,

"So you felt you didn't need to tell me?"

"I just had a fight with mom and dad. I didn't want to have another,"

"But you still felt the need to lock your door?"

"So that's how you found out," Tori said, crossing her arms,

"Well, when you've practically raised five kids who are not yours with the minds of mad geniuses, you learn a thing or two…including how to pick locks,"

"I just did that to avoid conflict,"

"Avoid conflict!" Jess exclaimed, "It's that sort of stunt that got you very well nearly killed last time!" Tori cringed, "I was worried sick, afraid I was going to get a house call from the cops just like…just like last time," Jess's voice hitched,

"I'm sorry Jess," Tori said, giving her nannie a hug,

"I know you are," Jess said, "Just don't do it again,"

"I won't…I promise," Tori said, squeezing her eyes shut as a new memory seared through her head, _'I promise I won't say a thing,' Tori said genuinely, 'I'll keep your secret Tim.'_ Tori blinked to the present…what secret? What was Tim hiding? Shaking her head she went to grab her bag,

"Oh, Tori. Dr. Leslie called, she said she wanted you to come by and review the CT scan," Jess said,

"Is something wrong?" Tori asked, worried,

"It's just standard protocol. The school called and said you're clear to do everything sports and PE wise, but Leslie still needs to talk it over with you. It's how her clinic works,"

"Oh, okay,"

"She says she's out too early for you to come by today, so you'll have to go tomorrow…would you like me to go with?" Tori shook her head,

"No, I think I'll manage," Tori winced as another memory played, _'Tori are you sure?'_ it was a different voice from her other memories, she was in that super dark place again, it was dim…only because she can't remember the memory fully…she's sure once all her memories come back, she'll remember every detail, _'I'm positive I can do this,'_

 _'the Boss Man will so ground me,' the voice replied, sighing,_

 _'Can he even still do that?' Tori asked, smirking,_

 _'Tori don't try anything that will get you hurt…'cause I'll get in trouble for it,'_

 _'Don't worry 'wing, I'll manage,'_ _Tori replied with a smile_. Tori shook her head again. The memories were coming back faster but she was still missing certain things. Who was this Wing person? Most of her new memories seemed to be current memories, her past was crystal clear. Taking a deep calming breath she followed her siblings to the car.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

For once her two days went by with no incidents. She went to all her classes and answered questions when asked, when she wasn't called on she sat in the back of the room, quietly taking notes like any other kid. On the outside, she was the perfect little student, on the inside, she was freaking out. She couldn't get the image of Penny out of her head, she couldn't get the memory of that night out of her head. She knew she was investigating those men…but she didn't know why. How had she even _known_ about those people? How did she know they needed to be investigated? It was a mystery she was dying to solve with absolutely no means how.

Not only that, but it was like something had changed within her. She felt more awake…jittery like she had to be in motion. Tori kept tapping her pencil or tapping her fingers on the desk, most likely annoying the other students and teachers. On one occasion a teacher took the pencil from her hand and put it in the little slot at the top of the desk. Tori was also still miss-suddenly-knowledgeable girl, she knew every questions' answer…even if she didn't want to know it. The answer just popped into her head. She didn't answer all of them…but she still knew the right one. It was weird and it was scaring her.

Finally classes were over and she headed over to Dr. Leslie's Clinic. Half way there she noticed how close the actual clinic was to Crime Alley…where it all happened…where her life changed, probably forever. Maybe she should have asked Jess to come. No matter, she continued on her way.

Just as she was walking through the doors, her cell phone rang. She had to reset everything since she forgot all her passwords. Looking at the caller ID she figured it had to be either Tim, Steph, her family or Jess. They were the only contacts she added and she hasn't met anyone yet that she'd want to talk to twenty-four seven. It was Tim. Biting her lip she hit ignore. To be honest with herself…she had been avoiding Tim. Tori was still unsure whether or not she could trust him. He kept too many secrets. Not only that but she started to notice things….small things about her friends Steph and Tim. Like when Tim had dark half moons under his eyes some days and various injuries, small or big that had really lame excuses. Thus meaning he lied…a lot, and he's good at it. Stephanie is similar, in fact, Tori has been ignoring both of them a little bit. She didn't want lies, she wanted the truth,

"Tori?" Leslie called, Tori got up and followed the doctor, once in the room Tori spoke up, getting to the point of her being there,

"We're here to discuss my CT results?" Tori asked,

"Yes,"

"Why haven't you put them up?" Tori unintentionally blurted out,

"Patience. I just wanted to talk to you," Leslie said. She sounded nervous…concerned even,

"What is it?" Tori asked,

"Have you been feeling any numbness, tingling, tenderness, sharp shooting pain, fullness, difficulty swallowing, or dizziness since you woke up?"

"Occasionally when I gain a memory," Tori replied, "Why?" Leslie frowned. Tori did not like that frown…that frown meant something was wrong. An icy pit formed in her stomach,

"Were you wearing jewelry when the CT or X-ray was in process?" Leslie asked,

"No, you took it all off…I remember waking up without my necklace" she always wore that necklace…it was the necklace she woke up in, it was the necklace she'd keep. She felt some weird connection to it, probably due to the fact that she had it before she was taken from those goons and it survived them and everything in between, "Get to the point Dr. Leslie!" Tori didn't mean to be rude, but Leslie was scaring her. Sighing Leslie put up the results up on the screens so they could both see them clearly,

"Everything appears to be normal. Nothing wrong with any part of your brain," Leslie said,

"Then why did you ask me all those questions?" Tori asked,

"Because look," Leslie said, pointing to the part of the CT and X-Ray scan where her head met her spine, really her neck. There, in bright white coloring was a small square. At least an inch wide in length and width, it was thin in height. Like an SMS card,

"What is that?" Tori asked. Only bones and metal show up on the results screens,

"I don't know," Leslie said, it's a very scary thing when a doctor says 'I don't know', "It could be anything really…it doesn't seem to be dangerous…at the moment,"

"Wait…are you saying there's metal in my neck?" Tori demanded,

"Yes," Leslie said,

"Get it out!" Tori said. Standing up, for some reason, this new found fact worried her,

"I can't get it out. All we know is that it's in you. We know nothing else. We don't know if it's a piece of bone that broke, but healed wrong and might cause permanent damage if we try to fix it. We don't know if it's something that could kill you if we try to remove, the facts are that we don't know what this is. All we can do is keep an eye on it." Another mystery with absolutely no answer, "I could tell your parents…"

"NO," Tori said, for some reason she wanted this to remain between them. She wanted someone to trust for once, and that person seemed to be Dr. Leslie, "can we keep this between us? Please?" Tori asked, "I'll come in for regular updates or whatever, I'll even help try and figure out what it is…just please don't tell my parents," Tori pleaded, Leslie looked unsure but nodded,

"I'll keep this between us for the meantime, but once anything concerning removing that thing comes up I will be telling your parents," Tori nodded, relieved, "I could lose my practicing license if anyone found out…but seeing as I am my own boss and everyone else here works for me. I can keep this confidential for now. Just don't do anything illegal to get your answers Tori," Tori stared at her doctor,

"Why would you think I'd do anything like that?" Tori asked. Dr. Leslie pursed her lips,

"Nothing, you just remind me of someone I know…someone who isn't one for rules when it concerns his health or getting his answers,"

"Well I can assure you I'm nothing like him,"

"Well…it's more like them. They're all alike in that way, they only care about other people's health…not their own," Tori bit her lip,

"What if me finding the answers saves other peoples' lives?" she asked,

"Then I would say you are much more alike them than you seem to think," Leslie said, "Stay safe for once Tori. Don't do something you aren't ready to do yet," Tori promised she wouldn't do anything illegal…despite already having broken into the cemetery before, but she promised not to do anything that stupid from that point on.

Looking at her watch she realized how late it was. Jess would kill her for real this time if she was out late again. Knowing she'd have to run just to make it in on time for her newly placed curfew…courtesy of angry parents and a mad/ scorned Jess. Basically she was grounded. No after school hang outs with friends, just straight to school and back until further notice, plus a curfew. Sighing she started to run. The world blurred…Tori stumbled to slow herself down. Tripping and nearly falling Tori blinked, looking around. The area wasn't familiar. It didn't look like the streets of Crime Alley. Looking at the street sign she realized she had ran four blocks. Tori shook her head, that's not possible. Tori felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest…while the world looked as if it were slowing down. She was so confused, looking down at herself she could see her hands blur, like they were vibrating. No one else seemed to notice. Experimentally, Tori took another step, this time like she was running and ran ten blocks within a minute. She now stood at the door of her apartment complex. It was entirely impossible, but she had ran home, all the way from Crime Alley in less than five minutes. Looking at her hands, they were back to normal, so was her heart beat. She didn't know what caused the burst of super speed, but something was up. Something even stranger than just suddenly knowing everything. What was happening to her?…She knew she should tell someone, but she didn't know who to trust.

Randomly, she thought of the moments before being taken, before all this weird stuff started happening. Tori's eyes widened at a sudden realization and she ran—this time consciously at a normal speed—up to the penthouse and to her room. Closing door Tori stepped and 'blurred' as she now dubbed what she did, into her chair, over shooting it and slamming into her bed post instead,

"Ow," she grumbled, getting up and sitting in the chair. Tori couldn't believe she'd been so stupid. In her memory she remembered that she still had to permanently delete the information on the investigation when she got home, but she hadn't come home that night…not till a year later. Tori never got the chance. Crossing her fingers mentally, she scrolled through her trash until she found the date of the night she went missing. She had deleted an encrypted file, which she opened since she was apparently a computer wiz before she lost her memory. Liam was right when he said doing things you did when you were little was like re-learning how to ride a bike, it all came back to her as soon as she put her fingers on the keys.

Finally opening the file she read. she read it once, then twice, not believing what she was reading. The file was a detailed description of everything from MO to drop sites for 'failures' but only one thing stood out to her, **'each victim was found with their hair sheered short and a thin scar about an inch long on the back of their necks. Right at the middle of the cervical spine.'** It was underlined and bold-ed. Right there for her to see. Tori flashed back to the piece of metal Leslie found in her neck. Right in the middle of the cervical spine.  
Tori slowly got up and grabbed two mirrors and sat on her bed, not trusting herself to stand with what she might discover. Carefully, with thin, trembling fingers she moved all her hair over one shoulder and away from her neck. Then she faced her back to the dresser, where a mirror was positioned over it and raised the smaller mirror in front of her at eye level. Slowly she angled it to see the back of her neck. Once she did the mirror slipped from her hands, fingers stiff from shock and fell onto the comforter. There, on the back of her neck was a thin pale-red scar. Tori's mind spiraled with thousands of thoughts…but only questions filtered through coherently. Every victim had this…but she survived…why? What did this mean? Who had the answers? What is in her neck? The last thought to filter through before she was pulled into another memory was:  
What did they do to her?

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

 _Tori blinked groggily, trying to figure out where she was. It didn't look like anywhere she's ever been. It was dark except for the burning brightness of one fluorescent light. Suddenly, everything came back. The car, Penny, getting kidnapped. She was alone, none of her friends know where she went. How could she have been so stupid? Tori tried to get up, but she couldn't. She was on her stomach, arms shackled to the metal table. With sickening realization she saw that it was an operating table, right out of the old horror movies. She struggled, it was then that she realized she wasn't alone, the haze of the drugs they gave her fading and replaced by pure awareness. She was surrounded by monitors, machines and people wearing white coats and face masks. Two were shearing her hair off. On any other circumstance, she would've been angry, but to her shock, she started to cry. Tori couldn't help it, she was scared, alone…she had gotten Penny killed and now she was in their clutches. Tori knew she was about to be added to a list of victims that may never be found,_

 _'she's awake,' one of the doctors said, 'we need to put her out in order for us to operate,'_

 _'on it doctor,' one of the nurses by the machines said._ Doctor? _Tori thought confused,_ what are they going to do? _The nurse cranked a knob on the device and suddenly the room started to get blurry. Tori struggled, but firm hands held her down. Hands placed on her head and shoulders kept her in place as a platform was placed by the table. On it lay three things, a scalpel, a small technological chip and string for stitches. The room was spinning dizzily now, Tori tried to remain awake,_

 _'She's strong,' one doctor stated in the background, 'what are the chances she'll survive?'_

 _'I have faith in this one, she's fighter,' another voice replied. Startled that Tori recognized the voice she jerked out of the grips, turning her head to see the man who brought her here. He wore a trench coat, gloves and dark sunglasses. He was tall and lanky, but strong at the same time. Though her mind was still clouding due to the drugs, she could see the small smile the man had in place. He sickened her. Tori glared at him, blinking rapidly, trying to stay awake,_

 _'you might want to up her dose, you won't want someone as resilient as her waking up in the middle of the operation,' the man said as they grabbed her and forced her head down again. The doctor approached again, but Tori struggled, forcing herself to stay awake with pure willpower glared at them all,_

 _'Why?' was all she asked as her eyes fluttered closed,_

 _'To improve the world,' the man whispered as she tumbled into darkness once again._

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

"Tori!" a voice was yelling, Tori shot up, gasping in shock looking around wildly until she saw that she was face to face with Liam,

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past four minutes," he grumbled, "Your phone's been ringing non-stop and it's annoying me. Answer it," he demanded, handing her the device. Rolling her eyes and trying to calm her rapid heartbeat she answered it, not checking who was calling,

"Hello?" she asked as Liam left,

"You're ignoring me," Steph said accusingly on the other end, Tori closed her eyes,

"You guys are keeping secrets from me," Tori shot back,

"What?" Steph sputtered, "of course not!"

"You keep sharing all these weird looks, like you two know something I don't. You're both always tired during the day and are out late at night. Tell me that's not weird? Or secretive?"

"We're dating!" Steph screeched indignantly, her voice echoing off her room walls,

"What?" Tori asked, shocked, "Wow…I didn't know that…"

"You did before you lost your memories," Steph muttered, "Guess we forgot that you forgot. We just got used to doing the mushy secretive meaningful eye looks while in your presence,"

"Since when do mushy secretive meaningful eye looks include random injuries and bruises or black eyes?" Tori wondered innocently out loud, Steph was quiet, "See, lying and secrets. I notice things Steph. I'm not some naive little kid you could just tell half-truths to and expect to get away with it. I'm supposed to be your friend. Friends don't keep secrets," Tori snapped before hanging up. Sighing she slumped back on her bed. Groaning at the fact that she had just yelled at one of her only two friends.

A/N: Wow...Tori...sucks to be you a year ago. Now she even has super powers...hopefully Tim and Steph gain Tori's trust back.

Another chapter tomorrow! Two if you REVIEW!


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Hello whoever is reading this story! I know there are a lot of people out there who love batman, you'll love this story too! Just stick with it! It's only just starting to get good!

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING

Enjoy!

Chapter: 10

The next week was a lonely and awkward week. She continued to ignore Tim and Steph, which was hard. She had so much to tell them yet she also felt that she shouldn't tell them anything at all. She moved through classes, ignoring the strange and impressive knowledge streak she gained from her mysterious one year disappearance. The strange increase in speed came and went, but with it came a constant restlessness. She couldn't stay still, that bothered her. It bothered her so much that she decided to rejoin the gymnastics team just to have something active to do,

"C'mon coach, you have to let me back on the team," she said after school the day she decided to rejoin,

"I can't. You haven't been here for half of the practices, plus you've been missing for a year and returned with absolutely no memories. You can't rejoin, you don't remember the routines," Tori grit her teeth, she realized she often did this before she did something stupid and this time wasn't an excuse to that fact.

Without a second thought she marched over to the open uneven bars and pulled herself up onto the lower on. She then proceeded to do the whole routine from eighth grade on them, the only one she really remembered doing. She executed it perfectly and with ease. Liam, as she kept realizing, had been right when he said it was like riding a bike. Tori remembered everything she ever felt while doing gymnastics. Power, grace and strength. She felt the buzz from doing the almost impossible…she ate every minute of it up until she finally reached the end of the routine and dismounted. Landing firmly on the mat, feet planted solidly. The coach stared dumbfounded before glaring at her,

"Crowne. That was the stupidest thing a student on this team has ever done," he yelled,

"So I'm back on the team?" Tori asked, noting Olivia and Zoe's dual sneers and glares,

"You're back on as an alternate. No competing until I say it's okay or we need another member. Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Tori said, saluting like a soldier. Gritting her teeth again as a snippet of a memory flashed by, _'we're like freaking soldiers to him,'_ a deep gravely voice hissed. Tori couldn't see this guy's face but she could hear the anger resonating off the man's voice. It wasn't Tim's voice or Wing's voice or the boss man's voice this time. That time it was someone else's…and Tori recognized it. It was the guy's voice, the one she saw in the alleyway across from Dr. Leslie's Clinic. Blinking Tori shook her head and ran off to change, realizing a second to late that she had super sped to the locker room as soon as she was in the hallway…thank god no one was in the hallways and school was over.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tori waited patiently at Dr. Leslie's clinic. Her parents had ungrounded her due to Tori's ruse that she was volunteering at Leslie's clinic after gymnastics practice on Thursdays. In actuality, Tori was going over there to get updates by Leslie, and to have check ups revolving around the chip in her neck. They concluded that it was a chip. Leslie couldn't tell what kind though. It could be a tracking chip or just a chip someone randomly decided to implant into her neck while she was missing. Tori said she didn't know why anyone would put that in her neck. The truth was she really did know why. As the man said, they thought they were 'improving the world' but really they were just killing kids. She didn't tell Leslie this because she didn't want the lady to go to the police, in fact Tori was shocked she hadn't already. Tori voiced this question when the woman called her in. Leslie laughed,

"I've had many cases that required the police, many which have saved children's lives, but I'm sure if I told the police of this situation, they'd laugh and have me admitted to Arkham,"

"Really?" Tori asked,

"Yes. There are many good cops in the precinct, but just as many crooked ones. Not only that but what credibility do we have? An X-ray, CT scan and the memories of a sixteen year old girl? We have no proof," Tori frowned,

"Someone should fix that system,"

"We have the Commissioner, Harvey Bullock and Batman, that's it,"

"What about Montoya?" Tori asked, having met her at the police headquarters,

"Eh, never really met her," Leslie said,

"Wait? You've met all those people including _Batman?"_ Tori asked,

"Yes, he saved my life once or twice," Leslie said, "With all the crime in this City he still has time for old woman like me," Tori was silent for a moment, a thought starting to form,

"Does Batman have any partners?" she asked finally. Leslie stiffened,

"What brought this on?"

"Just wondering…trying to understand the vigilante population of this City. I've never seen Batman…or anyone else who helps him. I mean he has to have help, this is a pretty big and corrupt city as everyone loves to point out," Leslie smiled wryly,

"Yes, he has partners,"

"What are they called? I mean they have to have names,"

"There's Robin," Leslie said, "he's the youngest,"

"How old?" Leslie shrugged, but Tori could tell she knew more than she let on…why did everyone lie to her?

"There's Red Robin," Leslie said, Tori remembered the memory of the glimpse of red and black, "There's Nightwing," Tori remembered the calm and joking voice of the mysterious 'Wing, "There's this anti-hero Red Hood," Tori didn't know who that was, "He's around Crime Alley mostly, he doesn't get along with the others," Leslie said, before frowning, "We shouldn't be talking of this, we should be talking about you, that's why you're here," Tori blinked, remembering she had scheduled this appointment for her, not to discuss people who may or may not exist,

"I've determined that the chip is fused with your nervous system," Leslie said,

"So what does that mean?" Tori asked,

"It means that I cannot take it out without causing damage to you permanently,"

"Oh," Tori said, swallowing thickly,

"I did say that was a possibility," Leslie stated sympathetically, "We'll continue trying to figure out what it was put there for. In the meantime keep an eye on how you're feeling, what changes occur, how much water you drink, how much you eat…" Leslie droned on. Tori listened, but was still worried that she'd have to live with her increased intellect and speed for the rest of her life…she really should've told Leslie right away what she can do, but it never seemed like the right moment. Steeling herself, Tori started to speak,

"Leslie there's something I need to tell yo—," Tori was cut off by Leslie's beeper going off,

"I'm sorry, I need to go. You know the way out, we can pick this up later," Feeling a little dejected, Tori left.

Outside Tori started to head in the direction of home, only to notice a familiar red jacket that belonged to Tim, he seemed to be looking for something…more like someone, he was out searching for her. Not wanting to deal with anymore issues for the day. Tori turned in the opposite direction. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed another flash of red, disappearing down an alley…the one right across from Dr. Leslie's clinic. Gritting her teeth in anticipation of doing something stupid, yet again, she marched over to the alley.

She turned into it only to find it completely empty. Tori looked to her left, confused and turned to her right and…WHAM! Cold metal slammed into her face. With a cry of pain she fell to the ground, her jaw throbbing as she glared up at her attacker. It appeared to be a homeless person in a red jacket. That was what she had saw. Cursing herself for her stupidity she held her hands up, showing that she was defenseless. Her attacker dropped the bat, and pulled out a switchblade,  
"'and over yous money," he slurred. _Really? I got hit in the face with a bat by a drunk homeless guy?_ Tori thought to herself bitterly as she slowly got to her feet and reached into her back pocket to retrieve her wallet, but she was feigning it. Quick as she could she lashed out with a kick to his wrist, knocking the blade out of his hand and into the air. Tori then punched him in the face, wincing as she felt her wrist roll uncomfortably and dodged the blade falling to the ground. Not wasting anytime she push kicked him into the wall. Frightened the man scurried off. Taking a deep breath Tori noticed the sound of clapping. Whirling around Tori saw the same guy from before standing in the alley,

"You didn't feel inclined to help?" she demanded,

"You seemed to have it under control," he replied,

"Who are you. How do you know me? How do I know you," Tori asked, putting a hand to her jaw and realizing that the bat had actually torn flesh. It was bleeding. She groaned, Jess would never let her out at night again,  
"Let me see," the dude said, stepping forward, Tori took a step back,  
"No way, I don't know you…well…I don't remember you. I don't even know or remember your name," she said, crossing her arms, wincing as her wrist ached. It wasn't broken, but it hurt,  
"Next time when you punch, don't tuck your thumb into your fist and don't let your wrist roll as you make impact with the face. Weren't you taught this in karate class?" the guy drawled, stepping forward again and handing her a piece of white gauze which he pulled out from almost nowhere. Grumbling Tori took the gauze and placed it over the wound, "You might need a tetanus shot too,"

"Leslie already gave me one,"

"Why?"

"None of your business stranger. How did you know I did karate?"

"Because," he stated, "You told me,"

"So I did know you,"

"Yeah,"

"What's your name,"

"Jason Todd," he said, rolling his eyes, or at least it seemed like he was, Jason had on dark shades and a dark red jacket, "What brings you to this alley? And well…Crime Alley in general,"

"I was visiting Dr. Leslie," Tori said flatly,

"And just decided to almost get mugged in an alleyway?"

"No, I saw red and thought it was you. But it turned out to be a violent drunk homeless guy,"

"You were looking for me?" Jason asked, surprised,

"Yes, you know me and you're the only person who hasn't lied to me," Tori said, "You know Tim Drake right?" Jason paused, pursing his lips before answering,

"Yeah, I've heard of the kid,"

"Well I thought he was my friend, but it turns out all he's doing is lying to me," Tori stated. Jason smirked,

"Liars are part of life. For all you know I'm lying to you right now,"

"But you aren't lying Jason. For some reason I just know you're not lying," Jason mumbled something under his breath that she could barely hear, something along the lines of, "Of course…taught you that trick,"

"Who taught me what trick?" Tori asked, Jason looked up, stunned that she could hear him,

"Nothing," he muttered, "Listen Tor. Tim isn't lying to you. He's protecting you. You may want to remember your entire past, but sometimes what you've experienced isn't something you'd want to remember,"  
"I'm regaining memories from my year of being 'dead'" Tori spat, "Let me just say, I wish I could un-remember them just as much as people want Santa to be real. But it ain't happening," Jason winced at the word 'dead' like it physically hurt him,

"Did you—did you actually die?" he whispered, Tori cocked her head at that strange question,

"No…someone else died in my place," Tori replied, whispering as well, "But you have to keep that a secret…only me, Tim and Stephanie know," Jason nodded as if relieved before smirking again,

"If you really want to discover more about your past and why Tim is acting all secretive, start with your mom. She's got more cans of worms than Lex Luthor,"

"Who's Lex Luthor?" Tori asked confused,

"Just ask her about Peter," Jason said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "And before you ask who's Peter…just ask Maud…then talk to Tim. Let him explain himself to you…also, go on the internet and look up who's who in the world or you'll be helplessly lost for the rest of your life," Rolling her eyes Tori started to walk out of the alley only to stop,

"Hey, Jason?" she called to his retreating back, he turned, "Why do you stay in Crime Alley?" Jason smiled wickedly,

"These are my haunts, my grounds, my turf," Jason said, flicking a farewell salute before disappearing into the shadows. Rolling her eyes and smirking at his antics Tori left, heading home.

A/N: Wow, Jason Todd giving advice and standing up for Tim...never thought I'd see that! Sorry if Jason seems a little too Oc-ish, I try to keep the characters that already exist as realistic to their character as possible. PM me if you have questions, concerns or just want to say hi! ALSO REVIEW

Another chapter will be up tomorrow! I'll also be updating my other story today!

~ ShadowBat48


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Here's another installment of this wonderful story!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 11

Tori was helping Jess wash the dishes. Jess was washing, Tori drying. It was times like this that Tori realized how much more of a mom Jess was than Maud. Jess actually did things with them rather than just for them. She'd read bedtime stories to Cameron, help Ali with homework despite the attitude and help Liam with college essays when he required someone to edit his punctuation-less papers. Most of all, she'd been there with Tori since the day she was awoken by her family. She drove them all to school and back…she went to meets, games and matches. Tori remembered Max and Maud being too busy to come to any of her Karate matches, gymnastic meets or soccer games. Jess was always there, ready to help in anyway…Tori hoped that won't change in the next few seconds, she'd been trying to work up the courage to ask about Peter for the past five minutes. Finally, after a long stretch of silence Tori worked up her courage and opened her mouth,

"Hey, Jess?" she asked,

"Mmmhuh?" Jess asked, concentrating on getting the last bit of baked ziti off the ceramic plate,

"Can I ask you something?" Tori continued,

"Anything," Jess replied, still not looking up,

"Who's Peter?" Tori asked, Jess froze, ceramic plate crashing into the foamy, soapy water with a splash. The Crowne nannie snapped her head up to look at Tori incredulously,

"You remember Peter?" Jess exclaimed,

"No…someone…said his name," Tori said, not wanting to throw Jason under the bus if the family knew him for some strange reason, "Who is he," Jess frowned, as if debating something, continuing her work,

"It's really not my place to tell…go ask your mother. She should be explaining who he is…not me," Tori sighed. Maud…her mother. They had not spoken since Tori yelled at her during dinner all those nights ago. Determined to discover who this person was she took a deep breath and marched upstairs to the master bedroom.

The Master bedroom was plain enough. Cream colored walls and a dark red carpet to match. The bed was king sized with a flat screen TV in front of it. Two night stands, one dresser with a large mirror to go with it. A Large window was on the right of the room if you were facing the door. They showed the beautiful nighttime of Gotham. Her mother was already in bed, reading a book, eye glasses perched precisely on her nose. Max was staying late at work, grading papers…it was hard to do that with five kids screaming over the remote. Tori had knocked and to her surprise, her mother let her in,

"Tori, what is it?" Maud asked, setting her book down and giving her middle daughter her full attention,"Does you're cheek hurt? I don't know how you managed to run into a light post…you aren't usually that clumsy," Tori bit her lip,

"No, I have a question," she said, stepping tentatively into the room,

"Well then ask it, come…sit," Maud said, indicating the spot in the middle of the king sized bed, right by her. Tori complied, "You know, when you were little you used to run into our room and crawl up the middle of the bed and right into my arms," Maud reminisced fondly, a far away look in her eyes. Maud gently tugged on a lock of dark chocolate brown hair affectionately,

"You look so much like your father," she whispered, as if to herself,

"I don't look anything like him," Tori argued, confused. Maud blinked, focusing back on the present,

"What did you want to ask,"

"Who's Peter," Maud went stiff as a board, looking at Tori hard…as if angered by this question,

"Did someone…did Grant put you up to this?" her mother asked,

"What…no…I just remembered the name randomly," Tori said, sitting back, away from Maud, as if she could feel the stress and anger rolling off the woman. Maud took a deep breath,

"I thought you forgot about him for good. I had hoped you'd never regain your memory of that man. Your brother Grant probably told you about him when you were young and that's how you know his name. I love and hate that boy," Maud said, pinching the bridge of her nose,

"Stop trying to protect me," Tori said calmly, "Tell me the truth,"

"Peter…Peter was my first husband," Maud started, "Grant, Liam…and your's father,"

"Oh…that's why they have the golden eyes," Maud nodded,

"And why Grant has such curly dark hair,"

"So Max Crowne is Cameron and Ali's father," Tori said. Maud hesitated, but nodded,

"Not exactly, Max's last name isn't Crowne. That's my maiden name. I kept it and gave it to my children. Max doesn't really care about last name linage…but my family was one of the elites of Gotham. Along side the Cobblepots, Waynes and Elliots. They were a powerful family in Gotham, and we've stayed that way up to this day. You kids are all that's left of the Crownes…although there was that one story of the first child of my grandmother, your great-grandmother, Amelia Crowne…there are rumors that he lived,"

"Mom, stay on topic," Tori chided slightly, "…what happened to him?" Maud closed her eyes, as if praying to God not to let herself cry,

"One day, your father felt that Grant and Liam had been good enough to earn a trip the the amusement park. Liam was barely a year old but he took him anyway. It was late when they all started to head home…on the way they…they were mugged and Grant refused to give the man his watch. Peter had given it to him as a birthday present. It had his favorite superhero on the face. It was worthless but how would a mugger know that? He was nearly four, he didn't understand the severity of the situation. The man shot his gun, but Peter got in the way,"

"Oh…" Tori whispered,

"He died…I couldn't let my boys be without a father. I was hurt. Then…then you came along. You helped, you were adorable, my little whirlwind of activity. But I couldn't let you all be without a father either so I hired Jess. I didn't want to rely only on her…I thought it was inevitable until I met Max. We fell in love and I married him. We kept her because she was so good with you kids and we were expecting more as well,"

"Did you know you were pregnant with me when Peter died?" Tori asked, it felt strange to use her father's name,

"…yes," Maud whispered, "I was going to tell him when he got home," her eyes seemed a million miles away. It must've been so hard and sad. Tori could understand why she hired Jess…something was still bothering her…but she couldn't quite place her finger on it,

"You never crawled," Maud said, almost a whisper, Tori felt a smile quirk her lips. Only Maud would change subject that quickly, eradicating anything too overwhelmingly emotional to her,

"I didn't?"

"No, one day you just decided to up and walk. I had married Max by that time…we never really dated. It was just…meant to be. Max was the one you walked to, your first steps went straight to him…well more like the teddy bear he was holding out for you," Tori laughed,

"You hated your bottle cold or warm…it had to be scalding hot. I had to hold it in a wash cloth just to give it to you," Maud said, relaxing into the pillows, "I've missed you so much my little one," Tori smiled, feeling tears prickle in her eyes,

"I'm sorry for yelling at you that night," she blurted out,

"You had every right to be angry," Maud said, yawning, "I tried to erase you…just like I did to Peter. The papers were cruel when I married Max, saying that I only married him to have my perfect little family of angels whole again. He was the 'rebound guy.' But he wasn't…I love him. But I did erase Peter. I convinced Liam that Peter was an imaginary friend…I ignored Grant's nightmares for weeks until I couldn't take seeing him so upset. I told him that it wasn't his fault…but he didn't believe me. He didn't trust me after I tried so hard to erase Peter. He thought Max was trying to invade our family…replace his father. He'll hate me forever for that," Tori said nothing, just listened with rapt attention,

"I eventually told Liam the truth," Maud continued, "He took the truth like a good little soldier. He was always able to mask his emotions well. But he didn't talk to me for two months," Maud said, "I didn't get so much as a head shake or nod from him. Liam may be slow to anger, but he's never quick to forget. He'll punish you slowly for anything he felt you did wrong," Maud's eyes slipped closed. It was very late at night, almost midnight and Maud had work again in the morning,

"My biggest regret…" Maud started, "Was trying to erase you." with that said, Maud was asleep. Tori sat there in a stunned silence before leaning in and giving her mother a peck on the cheek before whispering,  
"I love you too mom," then she turned out the light and left.

. . .

It was a few days before Tori decided to talk to Tim. She called him and asked if he'd like to hang. He complied, saying to meet him at Hyde Park. Tori had sat on that bench for twenty minutes before he finally showed,

"What took you so long?" she demanded,

"I had to explain to someone where I was going so late this afternoon,"

"Why, they're afraid the Boogeyman's gonna eat you?" Tori asked rolling her eyes,

"There are plenty of Boogeymen in this city," Tim stated before sitting down. Tori sighed, he was right about that, "What's this about? This is the first time you've talked to me in over a week," Tim finally asked. Tori sighed again,

"You know Jason Todd," Tori stated, Tim snapped his head around, looking at her in shock,

"You remember him?"

"Sort of," Tori said, "I've been talking to him,"

"He's dangerous, you shouldn't talk to him," Tim said frowning,

"You talk to him," Tori stated, "what makes you so different that you can go and talk with him but I can't?"

"He's my brother," Tim said exasperated,

"You two look nothing alike," Tim frowned,

"We're adopted," he said,

"Oh," Tori bit her lip, it was like she was saying all the wrong things today, "Well, he told me to ask my mom about something…and then talk to you,"

"He did did he?" Tim said, "What did you ask,"

"I asked who Peter was," Tim frowned again, deeper this time

"Of course he would. He just wants this to be out in the open," Tim muttered to himself,

"What are you talking about?" Tori asked,

"Peter Pierce was a man who worked with my father…my real one before he died. They were going to combine companies and co-lead,"

"Oh…which companies?"

"DrakeIndustries and PierceInc," Tim said, "The company was failing even before my father died…it's not really a big thing anymore,"

"Okay, so you knew Peter,"

"I knew of him. I'm only ten months older than you," Tim said,

"So?" Tori said, rolling her eyes, "What's that got to do with anything?"

"When you think of your family…what's the first thing that comes to your mind?"

"Big," Tori said with a smile, Tim snorted,

"My family's just as big," he argued,

"I actually don't remember much about your family…I don't really remember anything about your family at all actually," Tori said,

"Is that why you've been ignoring me?" Tim asked,

"I haven't been ignoring you…" Tim gave her a look, "Okay fine…it's just I don't know who to trust and I hardly remembered anything about you so…I panicked,"

"You can trust me, I promise," Tim said,

"It's those exact words that caused my doubt…only I was saying them. I remember saying 'I promise to keep your secret' to you…but I don't remember why or what that secret was,"

"So you thought I was a criminal or delinquent didn't you?" Tim asked, sounding slightly offended,

"Yeah," Tori said looking down, "I want to know why I said that," Tim bit his lip,

"It's complicated…it's not my secret to tell exactly,"

"But you told me before," Tori said,

"That was different…you had facts, a reason to be told," Tim said, "You just found out that Peter had been murdered before you were born…you were angry, you wanted the mugger caught. We made a compromise. I told you the truth, you didn't push to be a part of it,"

"What's 'it'?" Tori demanded,

"'It's' not important…that's not why Jason sent you to talk to me,"

"Oh you told him to tell me to talk to you?"

"I told him to keep an eye out for you,"

"And you couldn't tell him to stop that homeless guy from hitting me in the face with a metal bat?" Tori huffed, rolling her eyes,

"Yeah…that must've hurt," Tim said,

"What do you need to tell me? If it's not that secret then what secret?"

"Do you trust me?" Tim asked, randomly,

"That's debatable…you haven't really given me much to trust you with," Tim rolled his eyes,

"Don't forget I was there when you took us grave digging," he said,

"Fair point, now spill or I'll leave," Tim sighed, turning a pebble from the pathway in his hands,

"Have you noticed that you and your siblings don't look alike?"

"We're half-siblings!" Tori said, Tim sighed,

"I'm not explaining this to you right…let me try a different angle. Your mother and my father were friends from college…she knew him for a long time. They both grew apart though. Maud had Peter, Grant and Liam…but then Peter died. The company that Peter used to own and my father's company had decided to join in business at least a week before he was killed, so Maud would come by to discuss the plans in his place, she was co-owner and still helps manage the companies…at least what's left of them. She knew enough of the plans to work it out, she, after all, runs her own business even if it is a cosmetics one. But she was…depressed, I mean she did tell you she practically ignored your brothers until you were born right," Tori nodded,

"So, what's the big secret?" Tori asked, not following,

"She came by more and more, sometimes drunk out of her mind…this is just what my mother told me herself through her letters,"

"Letters? What would she know of that?" Tori interrupted,

"She had died…she left me letters to remember her by. My father told her everything,"

"Oh…sorry," Tori said, then, "Some friend your dad was,"

"He kind of had no choice, my mother caught him,"

"Caught him doing what?" Tori demanded, Tim let out an impatient breath,

"Cheating. My father cheated on my mother with your mother," he blurted,

"Oh," Tori said, "That's the big secret?"

"There's a bigger one," Tori frowned, trying to see where he was going with this, then it hit her…her eyes grew wide,

"You don't mean…" Tim nodded,

"You're my half-sister," he said,

"That—that can't be true," Tori said, "Maud said she knew she was pregnant with me the day Peter died…that's…that's not possible,"

"I know it's a lot to take in—," Tim said, trying to put his hand on her shoulder, she dodged his comforting hand, trying to ignore his hurt look,

"I'm sorry…but I need to ask her!" Tori said, getting up, "Just…just stay here. I'll be back I promise," she said, sprinting away, eventually blurring away once she was out of sight in the direction of her family's penthouse.

Tori threw the door of the penthouse open, it slammed against the wall. The house was practically empty. Jess and Cameron were birthday shopping for Max's birthday next week, Ali was out with friends and Liam was at a cross country meet. Maud was the only one home,

"Maud!" she screamed, not bothering to call her mom. Maud ran out of the kitchen, panic on her face,

"What, what is it? Are you hurt…what's wrong!" she sounded terrified, part of Tori wanted to calm her down, but she couldn't do that not yet,

"Is Jack Drake my father?" Tori asked, getting straight to the point, Maud seemed broken,

"What?" was all she could manage, her raised hands slapping to her sides,

"Is. Jack. Drake. my father?" Tori asked again, looking her mother in the eyes, ready to see if she was lying or not,

"I-I never told you—how could you remember—how could you know that?" Maud mumbled,

"Is it true?" Tori demanded,

"Argh! It's true!" Maud huffed, "How the hell do you know that?"

"Tim Drake, my half-brother," Tori said numbly, shock filling her system,  
"Oh, that brat told you," Maud growled, "Of course he would ruin everything, that's what his family does,"

"Don't turn this on him!" Tori yelled,

"I was perfectly content with you never knowing Jack Drake existed at all. If only you hadn't gone and became friends with him…our family wouldn't be in danger of being ruined and exposed!"

"Our family?" Tori screamed, "Our family isn't the reason we'd be exposed or ruined, it's you! You're the reason! You used Max to make up for the fact that you cheated! A way to hide that you had no idea you were pregnant until way after Peter had died! Everyone's right about you, you have more secrets than truths! You don't even care about any of us! Just your perfect image, perfect job and fake perfect family! I mean how many of us are bastards?! Ali? Cameron?" Tori screamed, "Does Max even know?"

"That is enough Tori…you will speak of this to no one, it's our secret now Tori…I will do whatever needs to be done to keep this from the public…even silencing that Drake brat,"

"Did you just threaten Tim?" Tori exclaimed angrily, "I can't believe you didn't tell me about Peter or Jack or anything. You took advantage of the fact that I had amnesia…you didn't want me to regain any memories of anything that I might've caught that hinted to my true father! Secrets have a price Mother. If you're not careful they will come back to haunt you and karma's a bitch. Lies are dangerous, I wouldn't be surprised if any other secrets come back to torment you. Inner demons can kill you from the inside out…and I won't be here to pick up the pieces for you!" with that Tori turned on her heel, ran out of the penthouse, slamming the door so hard it came off its hinges. The sound of splintering wood echoing through the hallway. Both Maud and Tori stared at the door in shock before Tori sprinted away.

A/N: Wow, huge reveal there! And hmm, I think we know what happened to Amelia Crowne's first son don't we? ;)

REVIEW!

And if you have any questions PM me and I'll answer them, or I'll answer them right on the story for everyone who's confused about something.

AGAIN PLEASE REVIEW, I NEED FEEDBACK!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Here's another chapter, please review and give me feedback of how I am doing on this story. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 12

Tori skidded to a stop in front of the gates of Hyde Park, she could smell burning rubber. Looking down she noticed the heels of her boots smoking—had she really been running that fast? How did no one notice her running that fast?—Leaping over the gate she ran, this time at a normal speed, to the bench where she had left Tim. He was still there, he stood when he saw her and she ran to him. Tori flung her arms around him, he stumbled back a bit before returning the hug,

"I'm sorry for ignoring you," she whispered, before letting him go,

"It's okay," he said, a smile in his voice,

"Did you know the whole time?" Tori demanded punching him lightly in the arm and feeling slightly angry,

"No, I found out about a week before you disappeared," Tim said,

"I feel awful. I can't believe I went out on my own without telling anyone…what I put you through," she said, shaking her head at her inconsideration,

"It's not your fault," Tim stated, putting a hand on her shoulder, "You had figured something out that practically no one would believe. You knew that and acted on the knowledge…and it backfired,"

"Yeah, it really did backfire," she muttered,

"Do you remember anything else from that year you were missing? It would be helpful. Batman agreed to take the case," Tim said,

"Really…he did?" Tori asked, shocked,

"Yeah," Tim said smiling, "We're going to find those bastards and stop them,"

"Okay, that's great!" Tori exclaimed before taking a deep breath. She was going to tell Tim all the weird stuff that has been happening to her lately and he would either think she was crazy or believe her and help her. She really hoped it was the latter, "Tim, I really do need to tell you some—," Tim's phone rang,

"Sorry, I got to take this…it's Bruce," Tim said, holding up a finger. Stepping away he answered his cell. Tori tried not to get angry. The first time she was about to actually tell the truth to someone that person's phone rings…and he actually took it. That had to be Jack's traits coming in…from what she knew of that man, he was never far from his phone…she hoped she was never like that. Tori strained her hearing…trying to figure out what was going on,

"Are you sure?" Tim asked, sounding worried, Bruce said something on the other end and Tim sighed,

"I'm kind of in the middle of something," he said, glancing over at Tori. Bruce said a few other things, Tim's frown deepened, "Fine. I'm coming. But you owe me five more minutes with my half-sister," he hung up,

"Bruce knows?" Tori asked,

"He knows pretty much everything,"

"So unlike a billionaire playboy," she muttered, "Maud did so many things just to keep this affair secret, and it turns out he knew all along," Tori shook her head incredulously,

"I'm sorry to leave…but there's an emergency at home,"

"Not to serious I hope?" she said,

"Let's just say it won't be a pleasant night for anyone. Please Tori, go straight home and stay home," Tim said with such a grave voice that Tori nodded just as solemnly, "We'll finish this conversation later, I promise," with that said, he was gone. Tori took his advice and went home immediately, running and appearing in her room within the blink of an eye all ready for dinner.

. . .

"Where's Tim?" Tori asked as she set her tray down on the table next to Stephanie. It had been three days since he told her he was her half-brother and he hadn't shown at school for those three days. Stephanie had been out for one of those days…and the girl still looked terrible. Tired, her uniform was rumpled, her socks were two different colors, her hair was in a sloppy bun and her coat was crooked and had a stain on it. The dark half-moons under her eyes seemed to have doubled,

"He's home…he's not feeling well," she monotoned as if she'd rehearsed the excuse over and over again,

"Oh," Tori said, sitting down only she didn't really feel like eating anymore,

"He did tell me he told you the truth finally," Steph said, nibbling at her sandwich,

"Oh…did everyone know but me?" she muttered,

"Yes," Steph deadpanned,

"Sorry, I'm venting slightly when you clearly had a bad night…what happened?" Tori asked. Steph stopped chewing and looked at her, a calculating look on her face,

"I really want to tell you…but I can't," she said,

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tori demanded,

"I really shouldn't have said that…I'm sorry for being so cryptic and you just got like fifty tons of shit dumped on you in the past two months but I can't tell you," Steph said firmly. Tori sighed, "Have you and Maud talked about your family spat?"

"No," Tori deadpanned this time, "We haven't spoken since we fought,"

"So you haven't spoken in three days," Steph said,

"Yeah…it's been…awkward,"

"I can imagine, have your siblings been bothering you about it?"

"Yes…so much that I can't stand them half the time," Tori said, glancing at Liam across the room with his friends at the senior section of the cafeteria. Seniors and juniors tend to have their lunches around the same time while sophomores and freshmen have their lunches together. The middle school and elementary school has their own lunches and lunch room buildings…that way they aren't technically all in the same building their entire school experience,

"Maybe you should just tell them," Stephanie said,

"I don't think that's a good idea," Tori said,

"Why not?"

"Well…Maud's already mad at me…I don't want her to hate me forever. She's my mom, I don't like how it is between us, but I also have the right to be angry at her for lying all my life,"

"I agree you have a right to be angry, but take it from me, parents are only your parents for as long as they can be you parents. They do things for you that no one else will and in this city, that can be a dangerous thing. Don't give up on her Tori, you need her,"

"You're right," Tori said after pondering that statement, "But since she's still pretty mad…I'll text her that I'm sorry…just for now, we'll talk when I get home,"

"Sounds like a plan," Steph said, munching on her sandwich again. Tori sent the text and prayed her mom checked her phone while at work before they all got home. The bell trilled, startling Tori while Steph stood and grabbed her tray for her,

"Shove this in your mouth and hurry up with your bag, we have a lab in chemistry that I don't want to be paired with anyone else in," she said, walking over to the garbage can,

"Oh wow, I think you're only my friend for my brains," Tori said rolling her eyes and hefting her bag onto her shoulder,

"Funny, Tim says the same thing…only it's along the lines of 'I think you only date me for my brains,'" they both laughed and hurried to their class.

. . .

"They're talking about me," Tori said, glaring over at Olivia and Zoe, who were working on their lab,

"That's nothing new," Steph said, calmly trying to figure out how to light the Bunsen Burner. Tori glanced over at her friend before rolling her eyes and taking the matches from her hands,

"I really have no idea how you get by in this class," she said, expertly lighting the match and setting the Bunsen Burner on to its appropriate setting,

"Oh hush you," Steph said, pouting, "I've had a rough week,"

"It hasn't even been a week,"

"If feels like it's been a week," she replied, flopping her head onto her arms on the table,

"I can practically feel them glaring at me," Tori said,

"Ignore them,"

"Are they staring at me?" Tori asked, not even bothering to put the test tube over the flame, she was too distracted to care,

"Why do you care…you've never cared before,"

"I don't know…I just feel like somehow they'll figure out all my secrets,"

"Isn't that what you want?…Well not all your secrets but the one about your alfhay rotherbay?" Steph said ending in pig latin,

"Really…out of all the languages to choose from you chose pig latin? I'm pretty sure half the world…minus the pigs know pig latin!" Tori said, "Why don't you scream it to the world?" she said sarcastically. Stephanie gave her a glare,

"Fine. Fratele vitreg," she said,

"Did you just speak Romanian?" Tori said, "How do you know that…better question…how do I know that?"

"Tim's brother spoke it. He taught everyone he could. It's his first language," Stephanie said, switching spots with her as she continued their lab, "C'mon we need to finish this up,"

"Fine," Tori said, glaring over at the other girls. They were whispering and kept shooting evil looks in her direction. What did she ever do to them to make them hate her so much? Tori glared harder. She was getting so sick of them that she could practically feel her blood boil. Like she was seeing red, she really hated them. All of a sudden Olivia's shirt caught fire…time seemed to freeze. Tori's eyes widened…she had been staring directly at that same spot where the flames had sprung from…had she done this? Tori turned and ran from the room. Leaving Steph behind in the chaos and screaming of the lab gone horribly wrong.

She hadn't meant to, but she super sped to the bathroom, tripping over her feet as she entered the lavatory. She stumbled and slammed into the opposite wall and fell to the floor. Tori took a shuddering breath before checking to make sure the stalls were empty, which they were…thank God. Getting up she hurried to the sink and splashed cold water on her face. Gripping the edge of the sink she stared at her reflection. Tori was trying to wrap her head around what had just happened. She had felt angry…so angry, deciding to test her theory, she willed herself to feel that anger again. It wasn't that hard, she had a lot to be angry about. Tori could feel her body heat rise and she could see her eyes turning blood red before lasers…friggin' actual laser shot out of her eyes. With a yelp she realized almost a second too slow that she was staring at a mirror and dodged. Thankful for her skilled speed. Although she had damaged the stall behind her…Tori didn't care. She was freaking out.

How was she able to do this…she figured it was from the chip…but what would happen if she couldn't control it? What would happen if she couldn't stop all these new abilities from randomly going off? She hated not knowing…but she had no way to know all the same. Gritting her teeth, her hands curling into a fist she slammed it into the wall she was leaning against…her hand sank through to her elbow like it was cardboard. Tori yelped and pulled her arm out of the hole she'd just made,

"Tori?" Steph said, staring at her in shock as she just entered the room, "What was that?"

"What was what?" she asked stupidly,

"Oh I don't know…running out of the room when stupid Olivia's shirt caught fire…not to mention that hole you just made through concrete!" Steph exclaimed, "I know this week has been really hard for you but that doesn't give you super powers overnight!" Tori swallowed, making a quick decision,

"You're right," Tori said, "It has to do with the year I was gone…I was kidnapped and used as a guinea pig by these sick people. They implanted a chip in my neck that fused to my nervous system…based on what Dr. Leslie can figure out. A few weeks ago I realized that I can run really fast, I appear to have the ability of heat vision and I guess…super strength," Steph stared at her for a second,

"Super speed, heat vision and super strength?" she echoed, seemingly kind of dazed. Tori sighed, ran around the bathroom, used heat vision on the wall not the mirror this time and punched another hole in the wall. Steph pulled herself out of her stunned state and threw her arms around her friend,

"That's why you've been hanging out with Leslie and being so secretive and not trusting us…you must've been so alone during all this," she said, "We need to tell Tim and we need to get to the bottom of this,"

Stephanie added. Tori couldn't help it, she hugged her best friend and started to cry. She finally had people she could completely trust, she could gain control of her life again. Or so she hoped.

A/N: Stay tuned people! More excitement ahead, I promise...and more mystery I suppose. REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 13

"So this all just started happening randomly?" Stephanie asked as she and Tori walked down the block, a steaming cup of hot tea for Tori and hot coco for Steph in hand. Tori hated chocolate now for some reason. Tori nodded,

"No clue how," she replied,

"We need to tell someone about this!"

"And what, get sent to Arkham?" Tori said bitterly,

"We would not get sent to Arkham," Stephanie said,

"Yeah, we would. The go to option is 'send them to Arkham' for everyone here!"

"It is not," Stephanie said, then seemed to reconsider, "Okay…a majority of the time it is…but some of them go to BlackGate," she said helpfully,

"Could you really imagine telling Commissioner Gordon 'oh yeah, so my captors implanted a microchip into my neck that fused to my nervous system and gave me superpowers'? He'd send us to the asylum for sure," Tori muttered. Looking to her left she noticed a white van edging up the street, her insides turned to ice and she started to panic. As the van came closer and Stephanie continued to talk, Tori grabbed her friend by the arm and yanked Steph with her into the first store she could. Ducking down behind the short wall just under the window she watched the van roll away,

"Wow, didn't think you were the comic book type," Steph said rolling her eyes and glaring at the chocolate stain on her sweater, "What the hell was that about?" Tori gave her a guilty look,

"Sorry, I saw a white van and panicked,"

"Are you going to do that every time a sketchy white van drives by?"

"Maybe?" Tori replied,

"Ugh, whatever. How about I give Tim a call about all this and then we head over to your place to do homework and eat Jess's wonderful snicker-doodles," Tori groaned out loud,

"Can we please just not go back to my house?" Tori said, "I can't stand being there for more than five minutes,"

"I know I know I know, family drama, believe me I've had my fill. Check your phone, I'm sure your mom's replied to your heartfelt apology. I'm calling Tim to meet us in an hour. We're gonna kill time with a shopping spree," Steph said,

"I thought Tim was sick?" Stephanie grimaced,

"You're right…I'll fill him in…just tell him not to come. He'll do research for sure and try to contact the people in Batman Inc about this update. It'll be hard to convince him not to come. Family is every member of his family's weakness…that and everyone in their City,"

"You say that like they own Gotham,"

"Not own it…just…you know what, never mind, check your phone," Stephanie said taking her own cellular device, "and while you're at it get over your minor panic attack too," rolling her eyes Tori took out her phone, setting her cup on the window sill. She was surprised to find a text from her mother waiting for her. She smiled, it said that Maud was sorry as well and loved her very much, everything was good…well…as good as a text apology can be. They'll talk when she got home. Stephanie came over and sighed, putting her phone in her bag,

"Well, he's freaked…took all my argumentative abilities to get him not to come over here. He'll probably stay up all night doing research and I'll get in trouble for it," she reported glumly,

"We didn't even need to tell him,"

"No, you said it yourself, you have no answers and you can't do this on your own. Despite what you may think you are not invincible,"

"I never thought that," Tori said,

"Everyone thinks that they are, it's just not the truth,"

"You have been so negative and unlike you these past few days. What happened the night Tim told me he was my brother?" Tori demanded, hefting her bag on her shoulder as the two set back out onto the street,

"Nothing," Stephanie said, "Let's just go to the mall and forget about everything for once and just do something fun," And that's exactly what they did. They spent two hours there. It was nearly five when they started to head back to Tori's apartment. She finally felt ready to go back and she was extremely tired from looking at almost everything in the mall and not buying anything…well she did buy something, a toy action figure for Cameron. It was of Robin this time, since he already had Batman. Stephanie for some reason got a kick out of it,

"What's so funny? He's eight," Tori demanded, Stephanie shook her head, saying it was nothing,

"I still can't believe that guy," Tori said, fishing for her keys in her bag as they exited the elevator, "So what we didn't buy anything?"

"I know…just 'cause we go to Gotham Academy doesn't mean money grows on trees for us…well, it kind of does for you, but that's besides the point!" Stephanie stated when Tori gave her a look,

"I mean sure we were criticizing his jewelry…but I think he misunderstood us, we were trying to determine its worth,"

"Of course he didn't count on our ability to identify counterfeit jewelry," Steph said, shaking her head,

"Too bad he kicked us out before we could call the cops and rat him—," Tori didn't finish her sentence, they had arrived at her penthouse's door only to find it left ajar…someone had forced it open. Tori and Stephanie stood there dumbfounded before Tori remembered she could move. She ran to the door and shoved it open. The living room was a mess and the kitchen looked like a bomb had went off in it…not literally. Panic iced its way down her spine,

"Mom!" Tori screamed, spinning around the room, trying to find a sign that they were there. Jess, Max, Maud and Cameron had been the only one's home. Liam was at the Cross Country meet and Ali had a tennis match, both had celebratory or pick-me-up out to dinners at the famous diner every kid at Gotham Academy goes to. Nothing replied, only Tori's voice echoing off the high ceilings,

"What happened?" Tori asked Stephanie, "Could they have gone out and—and someone broke in?"

"Nothing has been taken Tori," Steph said in an eerily calm voice, though panic was evident in her eyes, "We need to—," Tori cut her off,

"Mom!" she screamed again, "Mommy!" she cried out, her throat felt dry as sandpaper as she sprinted up the steps,

"Tori wait!" Steph cried, running to catch up to her. Tori reached the top and ran to her parents room, flinging the door open, only to freeze. The room was a mess, but a different kind of mess. Her parents, biological or not, were flung on the floor like rag dolls, Jess a few feet away from them. Eyes staring up lifelessly at the ceiling, unmoving…blood everywhere. Tori opened her mouth to scream, cry, something…but nothing came out. Just an estranged, high pitched croak. Stephanie appeared behind her a gasped,

"Where's Cameron?" Tori finally managed to get out, "Where's my little brother, he was home… oh my God where is he?"

"Oh my," Steph whispered, "Tori. Tori!…Tori, we need to—," she was interrupted by a thumping sound, it came from a shuddered closet in the back of the room. Tori didn't hesitate, she ran to the closet and pulled the door open. Inside was Cameron, curled up on the ground. He scrambled away before realizing it was Tori,

"Tori…where's mommy and daddy?" he asked in a small scared voice, "Jess said they were going to find me, that we were playing hide n' seek and they'd come but I had to be quiet," Tori felt tears prick her eyes and she forced herself not to break down, her little brother needed her. She crouched down to his level, making sure he still couldn't see behind her,

"Don't worry Cam," she said, her voice cracking, "Everything's gonna be okay…let's get you downstairs and—and make some calls—then, then we can have some cookies? How does that sound?" Cameron just nodded. She picked him up and carefully maneuvered herself and him so he wouldn't see the bodies. Her heart plummeted at that fact, her parents and nannie were just bodies now…they were gone. Sucking in another breath she went over to Steph,

"We need to call the cops," Tori said finally,

"I know, but…you need to see this," she said, pointing to a knife pinning a sheet of paper, "look at what it says," Stephanie stated. The paper said, 'We're the ones who created you, we're the ones who lost you…but we will always find you. Remember this as a consequence of your defiance.' Tori looked over at Stephanie in horror,

"Tori?" Cameron said,

"Y-yes?" she asked, her voice cracking,

"There were loud noises, when I was hiding. Mommy and Daddy were angry and Jess was scared. I don't know why…why was she scared?"

"I-I don't know," Tori said, "But we're going to call people who can find out,"

"Mommy and daddy came upstairs too, but they never found me. I saw them through the shuttered closet," Tori bit her lip, she wanted to ask if there was another person up there with them…but she couldn't bring herself to do it…not now.

. . .

The Police were everywhere. Yellow tape and people moving upstairs and down stairs. Cameron clung to Tori's leg, tears in his eyes demanding to see mommy and daddy. Tori bit her lip so hard it drew blood, it was the hardest thing to do not telling him the truth. But he's only eight, he didn't deserve to find out this way. She still couldn't believe the truth of the events. Her parents were dead…her nannie was dead…and it was all her fault. Stephanie was still talking to Bullock. Finally Tori couldn't take it anymore, she knelt down to Cameron's height,

"Cameron…you need to know," she started, she didn't get a chance to finish,

"They're dead aren't they?" he asked, tears flowing freely. Tori felt a tear fall down her face before she nodded. Cameron just stood there before shaking his head,

"No! They can't be dead! I want mommy and daddy!" he screamed,

"You can't," she said simply, "But I'm here," she said, opening her arms to him. He flung himself into the hug, sobbing into her shoulder,

"Told him didn't you?" Bullock said walking over to her, "We'll talk to him soon, but we need to talk to you first,"

"You can't interrogate him, he's only eight,"

"As of now he's the only witness of anything that we have," Bullock said, "We need to take advantage of opportunities like that concerning the truth," Tori took another deep breath and pulled out the Robin action figure she bought for him,

"Hey, Cameron. Mommy and daddy got you this for your birthday. Why don't you go play with it,"

"I don't feel like playing," he sniffed,

"I know, but I need to talk with the police," she said, "Please?" Cameron, the trooper he is, took the action figure and sat on the couch. Looking intently at his new toy. Tori straightened up and looked over at Bullock,

"What do you want to know?" she asked,

"Where were you when this happened,"

"What time did 'this' happen?" Tori shot back,

"About an hour and a half ago according to the ME,"

"I was at the mall with Stephanie. We didn't buy anything, just went to look but I did buy that for Cameron,"

"I thought your parents bought him that?"

"I said that so he'd have something to remember them buy. Something he'd care about,"

"Smart. Too many kids his age lose those memories in this city,"

"Yeah," she said, looking down,

"Do you have any enemies?"

"Me or my parents?"

"Both,"

"I wouldn't know that," Tori said,

"You vanished a year ago, decided dead only you're standing here…any memories as to what happened during that year?"

"No…nothing," Tori said slumping in defeat, "How is this going to help the investigation?"

"We think it was a break in and your parents got in the way,"

"That doesn't make any sense. First off, all the adults were home, second we're on the top floor,"

"They could've gotten in through the roof,"

"How did they get in here? Helicopter! Seriously, do you have no other leads?"

"What do you think happened here?" the detective demanded. Tori opened her mouth to tell him about the note when the door slammed open. Liam and Ali burst through. Taking in the scene. Seeing Cameron and Tori accounted for. Liam immediately marched towards Bullock,

"What happened here?" he demanded, while Ali looked around, biting her fingernail before dashing to the stairs,

"No! Wait! Somebody stop her!" Tori cried, wishing she could super speed to her sister. Ali didn't need to see their parents like that. No one could stop her and her sister's horrified scream echoed through the penthouse. Liam sprinted to his sister. Tori followed. Reaching the top she found Ali crouched next to the covered bodies of their parents, sobbing while Liam stood in the doorway stunned,

"W-what happened?" he whispered,

"They don't know," Tori said,

"They don't know! They don't know! It's there job to know!" Ali yelled angrily, "they better find who did this and—and—," her sister's face crumpled and she started sobbing again. Liam went over and pulled her into a hug, silent tears streaking his face. Tori wrapped both her arms around her siblings. They stayed like that for several minutes until a cop came up and kicked them out,

"We need to check for clues," he said, Tori ushered them all out and they went back down stairs to where Cameron sat. They all sat somberly, Bullock coming over to where they all were,

"Who were the people who kidnapped you a year ago,"

"I told you I don't remember that year," Tori said, her brow crinkling,

"We need to consider all options," he said, "We found the murder weapon. There's something stuck to the tip of it that we determined was paper. There was a note that someone tore away,"

"There was no note," Stephanie said from her spot behind the couch. Tori sent her friend a look. She was lying…but why? Doesn't she trust the police,

"Well then why was there paper stuck to it?" the detective asked,

"I don't know. We weren't here,"

"If this is somehow related to you then we are going to find out," he promised,

"Wait…you think someone killed our parents…because of me?" Tori asked, eyes wide. It was like it hadn't hit her till now. Her parents _had_ been murdered because of her. There had been a note that said so, they were coming to find her and wouldn't stop until they had her back. Everything bad that happened to this family was her fault, everything bad that was coming would be her fault. They were in danger because of her. Tori stood shaking her head,

"No…it can't be my fault. I didn't know…why is this happening to us? Why me? This—this is too much," she said before she sprinted from the room. The minute her feet hit the lobby and she was out the door, she used her super speed to run to the other side of the City.

Tori sped to one of the city's park, not really paying attention to where she was going, just that she needed to get away from there. She couldn't handle realizing that she's to blame for everything going wrong. Tori eventually tripped over a tree root, face planting the ground. Hoisting herself into a sitting position she started to cry, sob, wail, scream and punch. She was so sad and angry it was impossible to decide which was the more dominant emotion. With a final yell she turned and punched through the tree, hearing, with sweet satisfaction, a loud crack. She pulled her arm back and watched as it slowly fell over, split in half through the diameter of the trunk.

Suddenly Tori felt drained, exhausted. Tired out from crying and running. Kneeling in front of the left over stump from the tree she'd just destroyed she lay her head down on it, planning on letting herself cry some more when she heard a twig snap behind her. Tori tensed, instantly on full alert. Slowly and silently she stood, ready to bolt at a moment's notice…she didn't get the chance. Something slammed into the side of her head, she didn't even see her attacker before she hit the ground, darkness embracing her once again.

A/N: Ugh...I hate killing people, main characters or not. It's so sad, but it's for the plot...so sorry.

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	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Here's another one!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 14

"You said what?" Commissioner Gordon exclaimed, glaring at Bullock. Sure he was one of his most trusted detectives in the GCPD but what he had done was stupid. Jim was disappointed in his trusted friend,

"I didn't think she'd take off," Bullock said, glaring at the newcomer, Tim Drake as he hurried through the tape and to his girlfriend (according to Barbara) demanding answers,

"You don't blame the death of an innocent family on their child," Jim said, "Especially if that child had just been supposedly kidnapped a year ago only to return with absolutely no memory of that family at all,"

"I guess you're right," Bullock agreed, looking down ashamed,

"You need to find her!" Liam, Jim thought the kid's name was said,

"Yeah…whoever did this could still be out there," Ali said,

"She couldn't have gotten far,"

"Oh yes she could've," Stephanie Brown said, "She knows Gotham like the back of her hand, even with no memory,"

"Sir we found an area that's been disturbed…a tree had been split in half. There seems to be…skid marks near the base of the stump left over. I don't think—," one of the cops started to say,

"That's her," Tim said immediately, "Don't ask how I know, but I know that's her," Jim looked at the boy, who seemed so certain his friend was there. Tim also looked worse for wear. His arm was in a sling and he walked with a slight limp on his left leg,

"Very well, let's check it out," Jim said, "Half of the people here head there, the others…finish up," Turning to the kids he said,

"Stay here…Brown and Drake, you're free to go home. You look like you're going to drop," with that said, the Commissioner and part of his force headed out to the park.

Once at the scene though, Jim was scratching his head. He had no idea what to make of the broken tree, skid marks and a splot of blood on the ground. there wasn't enough blood for it to be a murder. The skid marks didn't look like tire skid marks and…and what can split a tree in half? He had no clue, sure…he was supposed to know everything, but CSI definitely had their work cut out for them. Or rather Batman, when he showed up. The shadows to his right suddenly thickened,

"Evening, what took you so long to get out of your cave," Jim said neutrally, trying to show that he wasn't spooked at his partner's sudden appearance,

"Angry teenagers," Batman replied, shooting a pointed look at Red Robin who stood a few feet away. He was rewarded a small glare from the boy,

"Glad my years of that are through," Jim replied, "To be honest, I have no clue what to make of this," gesturing to the crime scene…or what little of one they had,

"It is unusual, but based on certain information we just required it's a lead on wherever Tori Crowne went," Red Robin spoke up,

"Information from who?" Jim asked,

"Someone from Batman Inc," Batman said, he basically meant that it wasn't important who gave him the information, but it was valid information,

"So then what happened here,"

"Tori was taken," Batman said, "Most likely from the same people who nabbed her the first time,"

"We still don't know who did that,"

"Neither do we," Batman said grimly, "But we intend to find who took her and bring her back home safe and sound,"

"I don't know about her, but home doesn't really seem to be familiar to a amnesic,"

"She regained some of her memories," Red Robin said,

"How do you know that?" Jim asked, Red Robin frowned as if he said to much, "You know what, never mind, I don't need to know. But what I do need to know is where this girl is. I'll give you a few hours to find her yourselves, then we get involved,"

"At least twenty-four should be suffice," Batman said,

"Usually you take less," Jim pointed out,

"We don't know who took her in the first place or why. We need to regroup and gather information before we try and locate her. Whoever these people are took her, they were able to remain incognito for a whole year. Not only that but they kidnapped other children before her and managed to fake Tori's death using another poor girl," Batman deadpanned, "We need all the time we can get,"

"Wait? Kidnappings? Faked her death?" Jim mused,

"How else could she be standing?" Red stated, seeming to roll his eyes,

"Why weren't the police informed?" he demanded,

"Consider you and the police informed. Do with it what you will. I'll give you anything else we find," Batman said, quickly taking a sample of the blood before disappearing into the night. Red Robin a shadow behind him.

. . .

"What do we know?" Bruce asked once he and Red Robin arrived at the cave. His adopted son had been antsy since they found out Tori had ran away, then taken again by the very people she was taken by before,

"These men had been kidnapping kids since before Tori. Victims were found with their hair shaved to the ears with a scar on the back of their neck. Each were found within a week after they appeared to be missing…all street kids or kids picked up at random…no specific type," Stephanie said glumly, reading information from the batcomputer which had hacked into Tori's files. Everyone else was out patrolling. Robin had stayed in and so had Red Robin because of the Arkham breakout a few nights ago. Tim wasn't supposed to come with him to the scene. He understood why Tim did it though, it was his sister, the only blood relative he had left, but he was injured and shouldn't be out,

"They kept her," Bruce said,

"Yeah, because she survived whatever the hell they did," Robin said, hanging upside down from a bar on the ceiling,

"They implanted a microchip that fused to her nervous system," Stephanie said, "Dr. Leslie said so and I asked her about it as well,"

"If it's a chip, it'll probably have GPS," Bruce stated, "How come they didn't locate her sooner?"

"Maybe they just let her go, like a field test?" Robin suggested,

"Or maybe she got away but something briefly fried the chip which is why the…abilities she apparently has didn't show until later. It would prevent any GPS. It also might explain the amnesia," Tim said,

"How did it get fixed?" Batman asked,

"It's fused to her nervous system, it can heal itself while the body's asleep. Maybe it's the same with the chip," Bruce knew Tim was angry. Those monsters experimented on his sister. Cut her open and stuck a piece of metal in her neck. They don't know why and he wants to find her and kick some sense into her attackers…but first they have to find her,

"That's an awful lot of 'maybes'," Damian mused,

"Maybe," Bruce said, ignoring Stephanie's snort and muttered, 'no kidding' "But it's worth a shot…if we find her chip, we find her and the people who did this."

A/N: REVIEW if you like this series, if you don't, give FEEDBACK!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Hey! Thanks so much for reviewing and giving me great feedback! I felt kind of bad since I didn't post a chapter two days ago so I'm posting chap 14 and 15 today! Thanks so much guys!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 15

Unconsciousness was more clear than consciousness at the moment. Bits and pieces of thoughts circled and memories surfaced. Head injuries did that, Tori should know by now; she's been knocked out quite a few times. That clarity, strengthened her mind…her memories. Memories from when she was little flourished back to the right places and order. Some were still blurry, but there. Some standing out more than others. _Her fifth birthday, her first gymnastics meet,_ _Maud sitting next to her on the piano bench moving Tori's fingers to the right keys saying the name of each one,_

 _'C, D, E, F, G, A, B,' she said softly, "That's what they're called,'_

 _'I thought it was do ray mi fah sol la ti do?' littleTori said,_

 _'They have two names,' Maud said, tapping out a song,_

 _'What song is this?' Tori asked,_

 _'La Loo La Low…it's a lullaby,'_

 _'You sing that when I can't sleep,' Tori said, recognizing the tune,_

 _'Yes. If you ever feel sad, just remember this song,' Maud said,_ before that memory faded in a swirl of other memories. Suddenly they switched, moving faster, flickering like a super-sped up slide show. Tori meeting Stephanie and Tim for the first time, them hanging out, and becoming friends. Then they changed, speeding up further. Faces appeared next to each other. Damian Wayne…the youngest boy in the picture of her playing poker next to Robin. Dick Grayson…the dark haired, dark blue eyed guy Stephanie was passing cards to next to Nightwing. Stephanie next to Batgirl and Spoiler, Barbara Gordon, Jim Gordan's daughter behind a giant computer, the word 'Oracle' displayed on the screen. Tim next to an image of Red Robin. Finally, Bruce Wayne, Tim's adoptive father next to Batman. From that final memory she plunged straight into a memory, the memory that started everything.

/ / /

 _Tori ran up the steps, fuming. How dare Maud…how dare she, she thought to herself as she rang the doorbell five times. She knew it would annoy the crap out of Alfred, but this was urgent. Finally the door opened and Alfred stood between her and the hallway,_

 _"Miss Tori, what a surprise. Master Tim and Steph are out at the moment—,"_

 _"That's fine I can wait," she said, stepping past him, down the hall, and into the living room,_

 _"They'll be out for sometime,"_

 _"It's fine…I just need some time away from my home," she said. Tori must've looked upset since the butler left. She stayed in the living room for about five minutes before darting to the one room she'd been forbidden from entering since forever…Bruce's office. Tori knew their secret, she figured it out…she's smart like that. Tori needed their expertise, she wants her father's murderer caught and punished. It was because of that murderer that she'll never know her father…ever. Tori scanned the room. Bruce was still at work, it made no sense that the house was empty. Mr. Wayne would never leave the boys home alone with only Alfred to watch them…they'd kill each other. Plus Dick was at college, so they'd actually really would kill each other without him to prevent it._

 _Their lies were really bad once she stopped to look back on all the ones Tim and Steph had given her. She searched through his office, not really sure where to look. Then she spotted it. The grandfather clock. The hands were moving but the pendulum in the body of the clock wasn't. She stepped over to it and pulled. The clock moved away to reveal a tunnel with stone steps leading down. Tori smirked, she knew they were lying whenever they said they 'had to go to the basement' whenever she was around. Wayne Manor didn't have a basement, she'd checked the blueprints thanks to some hacking._

 _Tori ambled down the steps, trying to move silently only to wince as an echo sounded on the last step,_

 _"Bruce finally, we're all ready for Patrol and—Tori!" Tim exclaimed,_

 _"Ohmigod!" Steph squeaked clapping her hand over her mouth, "Bruce is going to kill us," Tim frowned while Damian laughed,_

 _"He'll toss you to the streets for this,"_

 _"Shut it Demon," Tim hissed turning to glare at his brother before facing Tori again, "How did you find out?"_

 _"Besides the bad lies?" Tori said, "The fact that the 'mysterious basement' which I am not allowed in does not exist,"_

 _"She kind of has us there…we suck at lying to our friends,"_

 _"Some of us do…some of us don't," Damian said, fiddling with a katana, "If you don't plan on doing something about this I'll silence her!" he said, standing up and brandishing his sword menacingly,_

 _"Stand down," a voice said behind her. Whirling around Tori found her face to face with Batman himself…or really Bruce Wayne, "Head out for patrol. We need to talk," Bruce said, glaring down at her. Tori fidgeted uncomfortably at the magnitude of the glare as the others scrambled to leave. Finally it was just her and the boss man himself,_

 _"You're the one who's been hacking into the GCPD," he said, it wasn't a question,_

 _"Yes," Tori said, disappointed someone caught her…she thought she had hidden herself well,_

 _"Why?"_

 _"I needed answers…I thought like you and got them," she said, forcing herself to look away from the cave's ground and at the man in front of her, if possible his glare deepened,_

 _"You can't just prance around like you're one of us Tori. It's dangerous. You aren't a vigilante, not even an amateur one," he growled,_

 _"I never said I wanted to be one," she said,_

 _"Glad we agree, now_ _ **Go Home,"**_ _Batman growled harshly. Tori recoiled slightly but then scrunched up her nose stubbornly,_

 _"No," she said, "I came here to give you a case. My father was murdered before I was born. The man was never caught," Bruce was quiet for a moment,_

 _"That happens often in this city," he said finally,_

 _"Including to you," she stated before continuing, "There was an assassination attempt on Jack Drake…Tim's father, he survived though. My father and Jack were going to combine companies and co-lead, making them even richer and more powerful than if they remained separate. I think the murder and attempted murder are related. The murderer killed my father because of that fact and went after Jack. The only difference is that he succeeded with one and not the other. There could be more than one attempt. You want to save this city? Good, I know you do that every night, but you can at least save Tim's dad,"_

 _"You're claiming an assassination attempt based on speculation of another crime and the fact that it was your father. Not only that but this happened almost fourteen years ago," Bruce said, "As I said before, Go Home,"_

 _"The companies still joined, my mother helped PierceInc and Drake Industries combine. Whoever hired that mugger to kill my father could still want Jack dead. Tim still has a father, are you willing to just let Jack be taken from him like that? What if he was there when it happened? Like you? Like my brothers? Could you live knowing that I came to you for help but you just let it go because it was based on speculation?" Batman frowned,_

 _"I'll make a compromise. You stay out of this life, and I'll look into this theory…deal?" Tori bit her lip, not exactly the priority rate she wanted this case to be…but he was still looking into it,_

 _"Let me come by when they train and you've got yourself a deal," Tori said,_

 _"Fine. Just—,"_

 _"Go home…yeah I got it…yeesh," Tori said, heading over to the stairs, "Oh and Bruce? Thanks."_

/ / /

The memories continued to fly by. Her mind making sense of the things she'd been missing. The Cave itself, up to date and huge. The equipment arranged perfectly for training. The black and red costume that Tim wore dancing across the sky in sight of where she sat on one of the many roofs with her communicator. The echoing of bat calls in the cave as she laughed with her friends. Tim telling her the whole story to their vigilante secret and her promising to keep it all a secret. Tori on the high trapeze, set up for Dick with Nightwing himself staring up at her, worry evident on his face despite the nets set up below her, _"Tori are you sure?" he asked,_

 _"I'm positive I can do this," she said,_

 _"the Boss Man will so ground me," he sighed, staring guiltily up at her,_

 _"Can he even still do that?'"Tori asked, smirking,_

 _"Tori don't try anything that will get you hurt…'cause I'll get in trouble for it,"_

 _"Don't worry 'wing, I'll manage," Tori replied with a smile before leaping off the platform._ Everything was starting to make sense…in her head while she lay unconscious. The tiredness, the bruises and broken bones, cuts and hissed intakes of breath at sudden movements. They were the protectors of this city…and she had known. Tori had known who they were, she had been included on the worlds' most closely kept secret. Her half-brother risked his life on a daily basis for complete strangers. Tori had wanted to be like them. She had tried, she even started her own investigation. Fate caused her get caught, her own morality that made her want to be the one who got taken because she knew the heroes of the city. But it hadn't worked, they had her for a year, a whole year to use her to do who knows what. Her family and friends mourned her because she had tried to play hero which caused another girl to die. That may have been her fate, but her destiny will be different. Thoughts in order, Tori snapped opened her eyes.

A/N: Yay! She remembers! I wonder where she is right now, and what will happen. ;)

Review! Also, try my other story called Forever. Thanks!


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: We are getting close to the ending of this story :( but don't worry, there will be a sequel! I might not post as often as I'd like for the sequel only because I need to edit and make sure things make sense when compared to the first story (since I changed some things). So don't despair there will be another story soon!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 16

Tori looked around in shock, trying to get an idea of where she was. It looked like she was in a cross between a laboratory and a mental institution. It was quite frightening. Bright white lights shined heavily down on her as she sat up fully to see that she was in a vertical glass tube. It didn't look like much, but it was weird. No one was around her, computers littered tables, there were no windows and other glass tubes stood next to her's, but they were empty. A metal table was placed in the middle of the room, with a start she realized that this was where she got the chip put in…if only her memories knew where that was. She barely remembered the year that she went missing, what she did remember was fuzzy, hazy and confusing. Tori didn't know why it was so distorted, but it was. After struggling to her feet she brought her fist back, ready to use her enhanced strength to break the glass and run the hell away from wherever she was, but a voice stopped her,

"I wouldn't attempt that, you'll only break your wrist," Tori froze in her movement. She knew that voice, she glared at the trench coat wearing man. He wore a hat too, it covered most of his face, in her memories, he always wore that stupid hat, "The glass is double-paned palladium-based metallic glass, it won't be affected by your super strength,"

"How you I know you just don't want me to escape?" she asked through clenched teeth,

"You don't, but you are welcomed to try," Tori huffed and put her arm down. Tim was coming for her, she'd get out of here, she'd just have to bid her time,

"Who are you? Let me go!" she shouted,

"I'm Mac. If I let you go I'd have to catch you all over again. You were hard enough to make cooperate when we first got you, then you actually got away and we had to wait this long just for GPS to come back online,"

"Why was is offline?" Tori demanded,

"There was a solar storm the day you managed to run away. The storm somehow fried our satellite which we use to keep track of you. It also fried your chip, caused you to blackout, lose your memories and abilities while ceasing our lock on your position. It was very frustrating. Our only success running about freely? Not only that but you managed to make it home, complicating things further,"

"Sorry I decided I didn't want you be your lab rat anymore,"

"Ah, so your memories have returned,"

"The majority of them from the year you kidnapped me," she sneered. It was a lie, she barely had any memories from the year she was gone…but she wouldn't let him know that, she did have a few,

"I was right when I said you'd be a fighter," Mac said, "You fought us on everything, tried to use your new abilities against us. But there was a problem with that, you didn't know how to use them. It backfired, since we knew more than you did, we could prevent you from escaping most of the time,"

"I remember you doing something to my head," Tori stated, touching her temple remembering the ache from whatever they did,

"They say when you train a Falcon you must keep it blind, we did the same for you…not to that degree though. We tapped into your chip and erased your memory and then we trained you. The only issue was that the chip healed whatever we destroyed so we had to constantly redo that once you started to regain your memories,"

"Why have you been doing this?" Tori demanded, "All those people you killed…it's not right,"

"Whoever said science is right? It's a test, a way to figure out the 'right' way. The ends justify the means yada yada," he said, waving his hand dismissively,

"That was murder,"

"Those were failures, and then came you…our only successful bionic human,"

"Bionic?"

"It's what we call your abilities, Bionics," Mac said, "I bet you don't remember why we created you in the first place,"

"My parents created me…and you killed them," Tori yelled, slamming the palm of her hand on the glass,

"I never laid a hand on your family. Though I must thank whoever did, it made you want to run…you did and we got you because of it,"

"Shut up," Tori snapped,

"No. Do you want to know why you were created?"

"No,"

"Too bad. You were created to be the first super soldier, we weren't expecting a success, but you survived and flourished,"

"Congrats, now let me go,"

"That's not happening. You're smarter, faster, and stronger…but we don't know the full extent of your bionics, there could be hidden abilities that we don't know about. The Chip is fused with your body. It could change and adapt as your brain and body grow,"

"Wait…are you telling me that you don't know what things are going to happen to me?" Tori said,

"We never got passed the super-speed, strength and heat-vision from after the operation,"

"So this was some guess and check experiment! Where the hell did you even come up with this idea!" Tori demanded,

"Peter Pierce," Trench coat said, Tori's insides seemed to freeze,

"What?" she whispered in shock, "h-he came up with this?"

"Yes. He came up with the brilliant idea of implanting tiny pieces of tech to enhance the nervous system's functions, making people faster, stronger with no repercussions, for people who were ill or in need of assistance with daily activities. But he chickened out. Decided to combine his company with Drake Industries instead, terminating the project as 'too extreme,'" Tori felt a surge of relief that her 'not-really' father didn't hire this man to complete his work, "I decided to take matters into my own hands and started working off the grid. People followed me since half of the employees from both companies were laid off, they were angry with their bosses. They've been helping me ever since. The greatest irony is that one of Peter's brats has become my one and only success…so far,"

"Are you done monologuing? I'd like to leave," Tori said, "Now let me go!"

"When are you going to get it through your thick skull that you aren't leaving?" Mac snarled, "I'll keep you here until I've unlocked all of your abilities. Until I have a whole army at my command,"

"Well too bad, I'll never help you do that," Tori sneered,

"Well you can say that, but it won't make a difference. You're well past due for a refresher. You need a clean slate to be the best,"

"What do you mean by refresher?" Tori demanded, slightly worried,

"I'm going to erase your memories. I've done this many times throughout the year we've had you, each time you retrieved your memories sooner than the last time you lost them, but I'm willing to continue doing this until I achieve what I want," Mac growled,

"No, you can't! I just got them back! I can't forget them again!" Tori shouted, pounding on the glass as Mac started typing commands into the keyboard. Tori couldn't let this happen, she had to stop him. Remembering her heat vision she glared at the computer until she felt her blood boil again. Red hot beams shot through the glass striking the computer frying all the circuitry,

"You idiot!" he screamed, Tori only smirked. The glass was weakened, she could get out. Before she could punch through the glass, alarms sounded, "What the hell?"

"The Calvary's arrived," Tori said, smiling as Tim flew through the air, slamming his foot into Mac's head. Mac was quick though, he dodged. He scrambled away as the bats assembled. Mac typed a command into the computer, causing all the computers to go blank. He locked eyes with Tori and glared menacingly, "Soon," he growled before sprinting in the other direction. Tori brought her fist back and broke through the glass. Carefully stepping over the jagged edges she stumbled toward her brother. Only to stop as a wave of dizziness made her nearly topple over. Tim quickly grabbed her arms,

"Whoa there," he said,

"He got away," Tori muttered, "I-we need to go after him,"

"You are in no condition to do that, you probably have a concussion. We came for you, not necessarily him," Tim said,

"But Tim!" Tori cried, only to bit her lip as his eyes widened, "Am I not supposed to say that out loud?" she asked,

"N-not really, it's just a shock that you figured it out so fast again," he replied,

"Well getting knocked out again kinda got me some of my memories back, I didn't figure it out again, I remembered," Tori said,

"That's great!" Stephanie cried, throwing her arms around her friend, "Let's get you back home, your family must be worried," Tori frowned, biting her lip, trying not to cry,

"Yeah, I need to get home," she said, wary of the truths she'll have to face.

A/N: I think there are two more chapters after this that I will post and then I'll start writing with a sequel! Whoo! I am so happy about this story, and this series is only going to get better! I have so many ideas that I hope you will enjoy!

Remember to review! And try out my other story: FOREVER if you like this one!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: We are getting close to the end :( hope you all stick around for the sequel!

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy!

Chapter: 17

Funeral is the stupidest word ever, in Tori's opinion. It has the root word 'fun' but they weren't fun. They were sad, they were horrible and the press was there. The four Crownes were front and center. Their uncle Arthur stood a little ways away. Apparently he was Max's brother who lived in England. Their father and uncle didn't talk all that much, but he came nonetheless. The Waynes came, Stephanie came, people from school and work came. It was a huge turnout. Tori tried to comfort everyone, but she was having a difficult time trying to comfort herself. Finally everyone left, finally the press left and it was just them, their uncle and their lawyers. Back in their penthouse, they discussed the will and what would happen to them,

"First thing to know," the first lawyer said, "Is that your inheritances cannot be touched by you or whoever becomes your legal guardian until you turn twenty-one,"

"What do you mean whoever becomes our guardian? What about Grant?" Tori asked,

"Well, Grant is twenty-one so he does get his inheritance. He could be your guardian but he's still in college. You are all minors and he has his own life to live. If he wishes to take care of you he can, but it's his decision,"

"We can't just make him take care of us. He has his own life to live," Ali said, sniffing slightly, her eyes red and watery, "He and his girlfriend Riley just moved in together, they shouldn't have to take care of four…o-o-orphans," she sniffed again,

"Your penthouse also has to be sold,"

"What?" the four Crownes echoed,

"Your father. He apparently had gambling issues. Selling the house will help with the debts that you four can't afford. It's better than paying the debt off yourselves to the men your father owes,"

"Why do we have to pay the debts?" Cameron piped up,

"The sins of the father are the sins of the son…or in this case children," Tori murmured, "Since he's…dead…it falls on us to pay off the debts,"

"What? Seriously?" Liam asked, "That's probably what got them…got them killed,"

"Not just killed Liam, murdered," Ali said darkly, "I hope the cops find who did this and make them pay," she sneered immediately after,

"Then what's going to happen to us?" Tori asked, trying not to show she knew exactly why they were killed,

"You'll stay with me," their uncle spoke up for the first time, his accent smoothly in place, "In London," Tori tried not to let herself look worried or disappointed. Everyone else seemed somewhat okay with the decision, but for Tori it would be a problem. Mac was still at large, he still wanted to find her and he would probably do whatever it takes to get her in his grasp. Tori couldn't go with them, deep down she wanted to be with her family, but she wasn't like them anymore, she was someone else, she wasn't who they remembered her to be. Tori knew things that they didn't, dark evil little secrets that were dangerous to know. She knew that to keep them safe, she'd have to stay away.

Tori walked slowly up the long pathway and the steps, knocking the giant knocker on the door and waiting painfully long for it to be opened. As if stepping out of her memory of the day she got her communicator came Alfred. He smiled gently at her,

"Miss Victoria, it has been too long. You have my condolences," Tori gave him a small smile…or grimace, she didn't know which, "Should I get Master Timothy for you?"

"I actually think I remember the way," Tori said, stepping around him, "Thank you though…and it's Tori, not Victoria please," she added as she started down the hallway to the main staircase,

"You said the same the first day I met you," he said as she left. Tori turned the corner only to stop when the dark-haired blue eyed guy came into the hallway followed by the red-haired girl,

"Tori?" the dark haired guy asked, smiling brightly, Tori scrunched her eyebrows, then she remembered who they were. She was tired, hadn't slept well since coming back from 'the lab' as she was calling it…because it pretty much was a lab,

"You're…Dick…and Barbara,"

"Yes!" Barbara said smiling,

"You're not in a wheelchair," Tori blurted, just realizing after she said it that it probably was rude, "Sorry…it's just—"

"It's okay," Barbara said quickly, throwing a smile that barely reached her eyes, "I'm used to it,"

"Sorry," she said again, hurrying up the stairs,

"Nice to have you back!" Dick called to her retreating form. Tori cursed herself for opening her big mouth. She just had to bring up the wheelchair…she had known Barbara was going to try to get the use of her legs back through the clinic in Africa. It's why she wasn't there in that picture of them playing poker. On the second floor she ran into the ten year old with black hair and grey eyes…a miniature Bruce Wayne,

"Drake-Crowne," he said in a haughty voice, "I see you've decided to pay a visit," Tori stared at him, eyebrow raised,

"I have a name," she said,

"If you really had all your memories back you would remember I never use names," he said, smirking evilly,

"Okay then," Tori said, continuing on her way before stopping and looking back, "Wait is that a _sword?"_ his grin only got wider. Maybe her memories were still screwed up…things are still hazy. She finally got to Tim's room…or where she remembered his room was and knocked on his door,

"Tori?" he said when he opened the door, "What are you doing here,"

"I need to talk to you," she said, he nodded and stepped aside to let her in. Tim's room was neat, incredibly neat. Her room in her penthouse…well, it's not her's anymore, but still…was incredibly messy. His desk though was scattered with papers, pencils, school work and his laptop,

"What's up?" he asked, sitting on his desk chair, resting his chin on it's back,

"Our house is being sold," she said,

"What?"

"Max…gambled,"

"That much?" Tori nodded, "Wow…what's going to happen?" Tim worried his bottom lip,

"Our Uncle wants us to live with him," Tori said,

"Is that a good thing?" Tim asked, Tori shook her head, swallowing roughly,

"He wants us to live in England," she said,

"…oh," Tim said after a beat of silence,

"I don't want to live in England," Tori said, hugging herself, "You guys are the only way I have to find out how to remove this chip…how to control these powers. You have all the tech from the Lab, and only you can figure out what it all does. Plus Mac is still out there,"

"You're afraid he'll go after you in England,"

"He went after mom, Max and Jess," Tori said, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them, "Why wouldn't he go after all the others I care about?"

"They're the people you grew up with Tori," Tim said. She knew he was just being supportive, trying to gauge what she really wanted,

"I never got to grow up with you Tim," Tori said, "I-I think I should stay here…with you. If Bruce will let me…"

"You know we'd have to tell the public why one of Gotham's richest is staying with another rich family," Tim said,

"I know…but I don't care what they will say…I need to figure this chip out and keep my family safe. I know you can take care of yourself, but my other siblings can't,"

"I'm certainly happy to have you stay here and I'm sure Bruce will be willing to help figure out your chip situation," Tim said smiling. Tori smiled too,

"Thank you," she said. Now she had to tell her family, and that, that's she was dreading.

A/N: One more chapter to go! :(

Review!


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Last Chapter! :(

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Enjoy

Chapter: 18

"You want to _what?"_ Liam exclaimed, his golden eyes wide with shock that mirrored Ali's. Cameron was just dully playing with his action figures, not paying attention,

"I want to stay here," Tori said again,

"Why?" Ali snapped, "Why would anyone, after what just happened, want to stay in this godforsaken hellhole of a city?" Tori swallowed and prepared the half-lie she had decided to tell,

"I want to stay to discover the truth,"

"The truth of what?" Liam said exasperated,

"What happened to me!" she cried out, "When I disappeared,"

"You went to New York! I don't know how you got amnesia but we know what happened!" Ali yelled,

"No! That's not what happened," Tori said, "You said you all saw me in the hospital and then you saw me die, I'm standing here right now. Someone else died in my place and I don't know where I went while that poor innocent girl was in my place. The only way I'll find out what happened is if I stay here and regain my memories,"

"Leave that for the police," Liam said, almost pleading,

"I can't. You don't know what it feels like to have the death of someone else on your shoulders,"

"I think we can all relate," Ali said bitterly,

"Not like that…what happened to mom, Max and Jess wasn't your fault. What happened to that girl was my fault…someway somehow it was my fault,"

"How do you know that?" Liam said,

"There's only one way to find out," Tori said, "I'm staying…I'll visit, video chat, write, email. I'll come for holidays…but I need to stay here. I need to heal my mind,"

"Where will you stay?" Liam demanded, "You're only seventeen…we don't even have a house here anymore!" Tori sighed, steeling her nerves as she delivered the final blow,

"I'll stay with the Waynes," Tori said quietly,

 _"What!"_ everyone but Cameron yelled,

"You'd stay with the Waynes but not your own family?" Liam yelled, "Why! What's so important about them that you'd give up your blood family for them!"

"I'm only half your blood family!" Tori snapped,

"What does that even mean?" Ali cried, narrowing her clear blue eyes,

"I'm your half-sister!" Tori exclaimed,

"You know about Peter?" Liam asked, shocked,

"Who's Peter?" Ali asked confused,

"Liam and Grant's father," Tori said,

"And your's," Liam added,

"Wait, hold on…mom was married before dad? I mean my dad?" Ali interupted, Tori finally confessed the truth,

"Peter is not my father," Tori said, biting her lip as Liam and Ali's eyes widened,

"After Peter died…mom had an affair and I was the result,"

"That still doesn't explain…" Liam started before his eyes widened even further with realization, "Timothy Drake…Jack Drake's your father. That's why you want to live with the Waynes," Tori nodded,

"Wait…hold the phone," Ali shouted, "You two are my and Cam's half siblings…but you're both from two different dads?"

"Apparently," Liam said, "But you'd still take the brother you barely know over the family you grew up with?" he asked, hurt lacing his voice with malice. Tori tried to keep her eyes dry but it wasn't working, her tears slipped through,

"I knew you wouldn't understand. You don't know what it's been like living with you guys, barely remembering anything about you guys or how I acted with you. I remember all that now, but it's like that was another person. I'm still not myself, not the me you guys grew up with at all. Every time you talk to me you look at me as if I should remember that was our joke or that was a memory we both shared…but every time you'd look away or wince knowing that I wouldn't remember. I don't know what hurt more, the fact that I continually let you down or the fact that you knew deep down that I was different than before. I love you all, I really do. But I need a fresh start. We all do. It's not an ideal time, I know, but I really need this," there wasn't a dry eye in the room, even Cameron had stopped playing to listen to her. Ali wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweatshirt,

"I know it's been hard for you, but your leaving us at a time where we need you,"

"I know…that's what makes this so hard…but it's for the best. I promise that for as long as I'm here…I'll look for whoever killed mom, Jess and Max. I'll make sure the police find them…whoever they are. I'll tell Bruce to get the case for Batman through BatmanInc. I'll bring our family justice," Liam's gaze was cold and filled with ice but he nodded mutely,

"But I'll miss you!" Cameron piped up, apparently he'd been listening the whole time,

"I'll miss you too. But I'll visit I promise." Tori said, looking into each of their eyes. The hardest part was over. Now it was time to find Mac and stop him. Now it was time to discover more about her strange powers. Now it was time for a new beginning.

A/N: The End! Okay, the sequel will be posted on monday. After that I will post every monday until the story is over. If I change anything I'll let you guys know through a posted chapter. Thanks so much for reading!

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